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| 5/27/2009 10:42:00 AM Email this article • Print this article |
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Tour guide Kurt Piller playing a West End squatter in the History Center’s downtown history walks. (Photo by Rachel Philipson) |
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Living History
Karen Gadiel
Contributing writer
You never know who you'll meet in downtown Ithaca. Sometimes you'll come across an old friend from your own past - and sometimes you happen on an old friend from Ithaca long ago. The History Center in Tompkins County, building on the success of last fall's "Haunted History" tours, created a new series of downtown history walks, allowing participants to encounter some colorful personages of bygone times.
On Saturday during the Ithaca Festival, as well as on the Saturday after, every half hour between noon and 5pm, participants are invited to take a stroll into history. The walks, lasting about 45 minutes, are guided by history buffs who have enjoyed researching people of an earlier time who have made the city unique.
Sherri LaTorre, who has costumed many of the actors and docents from her voluminous collection of vintage clothing, says people on the tours have been pleasantly surprised to be joined by actors playing the part of Ithaca's historical figures. She herself appears sometimes as Sarah Palmer or Elizabeth Beebe, two 19th century women known for the good they did in their communities.
Elizabeth Beebe - research has not turned up a connection between her family and Jeremiah Beebe, after whom the lake on the Cornell campus was named - separated from her husband about five years after arriving in Ithaca in 1870, and became a sort of stern angel of mercy to the "Rhiners," the squatters and fishermen who lived at the West end of town near the inlet, their extreme poverty setting them apart from the rest of the community. Beebe was given a small stipend from area churches as well as the working title of "City Missionary," a position she held for 26 years.
But LaTorre's favorite character is Sarah Palmer, a Civil War nurse who traveled with the local 109th regiment, leaving behind two daughters while she nursed the soldiers. "It wasn't an easy choice for them," LaTorre says about Palmer and at least two other women who also left Ithaca to care for the soldiers.
These homegrown, self-appointed nurses had no formal training - they were simply compassionate individuals who wanted to provide comfort to the injured and dying. They gave up bright clothing for dark - which camouflaged some of the messier stains; exchanging their hoop skirts and crinolines for more practical garments. Perhaps initially wide-eyed with enthusiasm, they were quickly disillusioned. On returning from the war, Palmer wrote an account of her experiences called "Aunt Becky's Army Diary" - Aunt Becky was what she was called by her grateful patients.
Palmer is her favorite character, perhaps because while, like Beebe, she was an independent-minded woman, Palmer seems to have more of a sense of humor to accompany her convictions. And LaTorre likes hoop skirts, so while portraying Palmer in Ithaca, she wears them for the tour. "We've been practicing walking around in them. They can be pretty dangerous," she notes.
Carolina Osorio Gil, another of the actors who works as a guide, says she'd prefer to dress as a flapper from the silent film era of the early 20th century. "As an actor, it's a fun experience, being in front of people. For me it's about a little performance," she says. "It's entertaining and getting people interested in culture and history. It's a positive thing."
Each tour is a little different. In addition to introducing walkers to some of the people of the past, guides will also be talking about others they might or not meet in the course of their walk, like the Iroquois, who were among the area's first settlers, Rhiners, and the founders of Cornell and Ithaca College.
The nefarious Mr. Ruloff is often seen, as are Simeon DeWitt, Theodore Zinck (whose famous bar at the former Ithaca Hotel is still celebrated in some Cornell alumni songs), and sweet Chester Platt, the first person in history to come up with the ice cream sundae, one of Ithaca's many claims to fame. And yes, most of the characters will engage in conversation, for those who wish to learn more.
"We talk about the silent movie industry, the architectural history, like the different spots on the tour where some of the houses were sites on the underground railroad," says Wylie Schwartz, marketing and development manager for the History Center and organizer of the walking tours.
The cost of $10 per person helps raise money for the History Center's general operating costs. "It's a way we're trying to become more sustainable by offering this fun and exciting event," Schwartz says.
Tours leave every half hour, more frequently if there's more demand. Groups are limited to 14 participants; the walking is on level ground. Tickets are available from the History Center, as well as from their booth on Bank Alley off The Commons during the Ithaca Festival. For more information, call the History Center at 607-273-8284.
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Suicide has recently come to Ithaca in a very public, and at times controversial, way. This past academic year, after three years with no suicides, Cornell experienced what is known in the scientific community as a "suicide cluster." OK, so maybe you're like me and you thought this whole JetBlue flight attendant story was good for maybe one news cycle.  |
