Historic Society to host nighttime tour of Old Live Oak Cemetery

Published 2:48 pm Tuesday, October 13, 2020

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Just before frightening festivities are in full swing for the holiday season, the Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation Society (SCDPHS) will host a Walking History Tour at Old Live Oak Cemetery on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 5-7 p.m.

Tickets for the event are $10 per person and all proceeds collected will directly benefit the SDCHPS, a nonprofit organization with the mission to preserve, protect and restore historic structures and locales across the Selma-Dallas County area.

The Walking History Tour will feature historical figure buried in the historic cemetery portrayed by Selma residents and SDCPHS board members.

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Tour attendees can look forward to seeing Vice President of the United States William Rufus DeVane King portrayed by Don King; Elodie Todd Dawson, Abraham Lincoln’s sister-in-law, portrayed by Cynthia Hammerle; Benjamin Sterling Turner, Alabama’s first Black Congressman, will be portrayed by Winston Williams; noted artist Clara Weaver Parish will be portrayed by Vicky Stoudenmire; educator Sophia P. Kingston will be portrayed by Evelyn Cox; and educator and businessman R.B. Hudson will be portrayed by Collins Pettway, III.
Though Hudson is not buried at Old Live Oak Cemetery, he will “make a special visit” to the grave of Dr. Courtney J. Clark for whom Clark School was named.

Other historical to be depicted on the tour include: Hattie Hooker Wilkins, William J. Hardee, Frank Hobbs, John Haralson and George Washington Gayle.

For more information about the SDCPHS’s Walking History Tour at Old Live Oak Cemetery, contact event organizers Gery Anderson or Candi Duncan at 334-412-8550 or visit the orgaizations website or Facebook page at http://historicselma.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/historicselma.