Voices From the Silent City

Living history program shares stories of philanthropists in Eureka Springs

Eureka Springs Historical Society actor Jim White plays the role of R.B. Kelly, a past resident of Eureka Springs, for their ghost tour at the Eureka Springs City Cemetery.
Eureka Springs Historical Society actor Jim White plays the role of R.B. Kelly, a past resident of Eureka Springs, for their ghost tour at the Eureka Springs City Cemetery.

"We've got some prospects for an outfielder, but we sure do need some hitters, and we need another pitcher," Richard B. Kelly gives a baseball scouting report.

Kelly and his brother, Ulysses Grant Kelly, operated a successful sawmill and lumber company in Eureka Springs at the turn of the 20th century. The mill stood on Planer Hill, where the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks is now. "But I'd rather play baseball than work at that sawmill," says Richard Kelly.

Voices From Eureka’s Silent City

What: Living history tour of cemetery

Benefits: Eureka Springs Historical Museum

Where: Eureka Springs Cemetery

Dates: Today to Saturday, Oct. 30-31.

Times: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tours leave every 20 minutes, with the last one at 8:30 p.m.

Parking: Former Victorian Inn, 4028 E. Van Buren, Eureka Springs. Trolleys will shuttle to cemetery.

Accessibility: 3/4 mile, flat, wheelchair accessbile.

Weather conditions: Nightly performances canceled in case of rain.

Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for children younger than 12

Purchase tickets: Museum, Chamber of Commerce, Cornerstone Bank locations, at the site.

Information: 253-9417, info@eurekaspringsh…

Voices

Col. Charles Dexter James, a lawyer and soldier credited with putting together a troupe of 75 from the city to fight in World War I, credited with training 8,000 men before his departure to France. Served as city attorney and in the state legislature. He died in 1938. Portrayed by Terry McClung, with guide Rochelle Bales.

Richard B. Kelly, owned a lumber mill and started a baseball team for the city. He died in 1922. Portrayed by Jim White, with guides Rochelle Bales and Janeen Johnson.

Helen DeLeuw, prominent artist with studio on Spring Street across from the Basin Park Hotel. Painted flora and fauna of the area on black walnut wood. She died in 1983, but is not buried in the cemetery. Portrayed by Mary Diehl, with guides Janeen Johnson and Ken Brown.

Clara Whiting Floyd, the third of four wives for Dr. R.G. Floyd, premier hostess for Eureka Springs, “mover and shaker” in the development of the town in the early 1900s. She died in 1935. She is portrayed by Carolyn Green, with guide Ken Brown.

Jenny Lofftus, wife W.S. Wadsworth, prominent businessman in Eureka Springs. He built the hotel on Spring Street now known as the New Orleans Hotel and operated a large department store. She died in 1933. She is portrayed by Joanie Kratzer, with guide Debbie Quigley.

Ida Lofftus, daughter of Jenny Lofftus, although the 1920 census listed her as “niece.” She lived as a recluse in the family home after her mother’s death until her own. She died in 1959. She is portrayed by Karen Pryor, with guide Debbie Quigley.

Daisy Tatman Perkins, the adopted daughter of Dr. Pearl Tatman and Dr. Albert Tatman. Pearl was the first female physician in Eureka Springs and Arkansas. Daisy married Clyde Perkins, son of W.O. Perkins, owner of the lumber mill in town. She died in 1962. She is portrayed by Alexa Pittinger, with guide Glenna Booth.

F.O. Butt (Festus Orestes or Fess), Carroll County superintendent of schools; twice mayor of Eureka Springs; a member of the state legislature for 12 years as a representative and as a senator. He practiced law continuously for 73 years. He died in 1972. He is portrayed by Kent Turner, with guides Glenna Booth and Judy Montgomery.

John “Chief” Moncravie, great-grandson of Black Dog, a principal chief of the Osage Indian Tribe credited with carving out the round rock which collected water from the Basin Spring, above the Basin Spring Park in downtown Eureka Springs. He died in 1987, and is buried in Pawhuska. He is portrayed by Brian Byerly, with guides Judy Montgomery and Christy Braswell.

Debbie Davis, current president of the Eureka Springs Historical Museum, who explains history of the cemetery and museum. Guide is Christie Braswell.

Others. Phyllis and Rod McGuire are co-producers. June Westphal is Eureka Springs’ historian. Mary Jean Sell is the script writer. Carol Greer handles publicity and advertising sales.

Information provided by Mary Jean Sell.

Wearing a turn-of-the century baseball uniform, Jim White, playing Kelly, steps up to bat this weekend and Oct. 30-31 during the seventh annual Voices From Eureka's Silent City.

The living-history cemetery walking tour features local enthusiasts in period costumes sharing stories of the town's unique and colorful past. This year's tour stops at the graves of Eureka Springs residents devoted to service and philanthropy.

White as Kelly explains he leveled the hill to make a ballfield, and his family donated lumber for the fence and bleachers. "We've got the nicest ball field in all of northern Arkansas," he says.

Kelly was the manager of the family's business, which milled much of the decorative moulding for the quintessential Victorian houses in the city, reads a biography provided by Mary Jean Sell, the scriptwriter for the Voices production. "Kelly was a prominent civic leader in the first two decades of the 1900s. He was a baseball nut, forming and managing a Eureka Springs baseball team that competed against teams locally and regionally."

"We used to play at the Narrows (on the White River near modern-day town of Beaver)," White continues in the voice of Kelly. "Families would bring picnics and go swimming. The excursion train brought them down there. And, sometimes, the gentlemen would take off their coats, roll up their sleeves and play with us."

EUREKA SPRINGS FOLKS

The characters encountered in the cemetery are not ghosts, not even via legend, says Rod McGuire, who co-produces the event with wife Phyllis. "There are no ghosts; we leave that to the Crescent Hotel.

"It's just local Eureka Springs folks, and they're telling their stories. They're just doing it in the cemetery, in the dark, in October ..."

Guides lead visitors from grave site to grave site, lighted only by lanterns and flashlights, but they will share more information about the characters and even highlight unique grave markers along the way. The Eureka Springs Cemetery carries the moniker "The Silent City" for this yearly event.

"Cemeteries have been called 'silent cities' for generations," Sell says. "I presume because of all the people in one location could make up the population of a small 'city'."

Voices, an amateur, once-a-year troupe, creates and delivers the vignettes, complete with period costume and props. The group organized in 2009 especially for this program, which supports the Eureka Springs Historical Museum. The museum is a nonprofit entity, and upkeep of its 1890 building comes with a heavy price tag, McGuire explains.

"The museum gets no city or county funds," he says. "The only money they get comes from fundraisers, membership fees and admission fees. But six years later, more than 60 people have raised $60,000 for that building, when you take in to account grants for matching funds."

Voices members come from all walks of life in Eureka Springs -- including the owner of the Amish Collection furniture market, the manager of the Sun Fest grocery store, a Eureka Springs city councilman and a massage therapist.

The event starts each year in February, McGuire says. June Westphal, a Eureka Springs historian, compiles a list of notable people with connections to Eureka Springs. Then, Sell, the final editor of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo, works through the spring to research the characters and write their scripts. Bi-weekly rehearsals start in August at the McGuires' home, with much of the cast returning year after year.

The characters and guides share only researched information. "And there's no hint of scandal or slander -- even if we know it," McGuire says.

"We are respectful of their stories," Phyillis McGuire adds.

Visitors to the Voices event can park in the parking lot of the shuttered Victorian Inn, and a trolley will take them to the cemetery. Tours leave every 20 minutes, with the last tour at 8:30 p.m. The 3/4-mile route is flat, wheelchair accessible and stops eight times to visit with characters, the McGuires note.

CITY'S CHARACTERS

Eureka Springs is a Carroll County tourist town situated in the Ozark Mountains. Since the time of the Osage Indians, visitors came to the city to take advantage of the purported healing powers of the springs surrounding the hamlet -- especially in the early 1900s.

"Although the city population remained under 4,000 people, thousands more came to the Eureka Springs area and set up housing, often small wooden shacks on the hillsides surrounding the 62 springs of the area," reads an entry about the town in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "The rapid construction of wooden houses -- as well as more than 50 hotels, boarding houses and businesses -- made the young community vulnerable to fire, and major fires struck the city in 1883, 1888, 1890 and 1893."

Kent Turner tells this story in the character of F.O. (Festus Orestes or Fess) Butt. He was Carroll County superintendent of schools, served two terms as Eureka Springs mayor, in both houses of the state legislature for 12 years, as acting governor, as special assistant to the Arkansas attorney general and as a judge for the 13th Circuit Court. He practiced law continuously for 73 years.

Silent City visitors will meet him as the remains of his home smoulder behind him, along with his prized personal library, one of the best in Arkansas.

"My house burned yesterday," Turner sadly tells Butt's tale. "Along with all my books. These books were my longtime friends, and now they're gone ... Books are the gateway for students in these small Ozark towns."

Important elements of Eureka Springs history are unveiled by the reenactors -- the fires; World War I; the Carnegie Library; Wadsworth home furnishings store; a bank robbery; and the development of Harmon Park.

Each year, Voices includes two people important to the history of Eureka Springs who are not buried in the local cemetery. This year, an artist and a Native American take up their rightful places in the Silent City.

Helen DeLeuw (played by Mary Diehl) creates one of her "lightning paintings" of dogwood blooms, while she speaks of her renowned artwork -- flora and fauna of the Ozarks painted on pieces of black walnut. She died in 1963 and was cremated, with her remains placed elsewhere.

John "Chief" Moncravie (portrayed by Brian Byerly) speaks of his great-grandfather Black Dog, a principal Osage Indian chief, who is credited with carving out the round rock which collected water from the Basin Spring, above today's Basin Spring Park.

"He was a part-time fishing guide and teller of tales in local cafes," Sell wrote in Moncravie's biography. "Chief" died in 1987 in the Eureka Springs hospital, and was buried in Pawhuska, Okla., near the capital of the Osage Nation.

"You'll meet the people who made Eureka Springs famous," says guide Terry Miller. "People who were born here, who lived here and who died here."

NAN Our Town on 10/15/2015

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