Lunch & Lecture

  The first Lunch & Lecture program that I attended at Love Chapel was in April, 2008 and given by Jerry Potter, author of The Sultana Tragedy. What a fascinating story the Sultana is! What turned out to be the largest maritime disaster in our nation's history occurred in one of the old channels of the Mississippi River, just a scant six miles north of Memphis (April, 1865) in what is now an Arkansas soybean field. Jerry showed many slides and told many stories about the Sultana, and made it quite an interesting luncheon, also piquing my interest to go visit "the site" again (as I had been there in 1985 when I first became involved with the Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island). That "adventure" (and subsequent caravans) is another story for another day. I became a "regular" at the Lunch & Lecture series after that, and then even became a volunteer helping seating folks, getting their drink requests, busing tables afterward and re-setting the room.

  My big moment came when I was asked to give a presentation and my topic of choice was "Gayoso Bayou: Then & Now" (March 12, 2010). The first town plan laid out for Memphis in 1819 was restricted to the east by this swampy bayou. The first bridge was not built over it until 1824. Early Memphis was founded in the area that today is know as The Pinch District basically bounded by The Pyramid, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Civic Center Plaza. In the early years, canoes, rafts and flatboats would come down the Mississippi River, swirl into the eddy of the Wolf River, and then come right up to "Catfish Bay". Many famous explorers came through this area in the 1500s through early 1800s, as "Before Memphis", this highest piece of ground on the river between Cairo and Natchez, was a strategic (dry) place. That's the "Then", and the "Now" portion of the lecture was about my modern day "Last Great Adventure" through the modern and not-so-modern storm drain system of Downtown.

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  My second "Lunch & Lecture" was entitled "Cotton & Crypts: Cotton Men Of Elmwood" and I had the good fortune to team up with Robert Acree, long time cotton factor for Anderson-Clayton and a legend on Cotton Row in Memphis. I met Bob though programs at the Cotton Museum. That program was scheduled for January 21, 2011 and despite several inches of snow, the show went on, along with a make-up date of January 28. Bob was sensational. Not only did he explain the details of the what the "World of Cotton" really was and is, but we also were able to tell the story of many famous Memphians - Cotton Men - buried in Elmwood, who were the City leaders, as Cotton ruled the area's commerce, political and social scenes.

  For 2012, I am preparing on a Lunch & Lecture entitled "The Moving Appeal" (in May or June, 2012) which will cover the three-year odyssey of The Memphis Daily Appeal newspaper throughout the South during the Civil War (1862-65). The determined owner and editor-in-chief was John Reid McClanahan and he was able to keep The Appeal (today known as The Commercial Appeal) printing on a regular schedule, moving a very large press on wagons and trains while staying one step ahead of Federal troops in Grenada & Jackson, Mississippi; Atlanta, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama.

The monthly Lunch & Lecture series covers a wide variety of topics such as the Sultana Disaster, Yellow Fever Epidemic, Tuskegee Airmen or Women Of The Civil War, and is sponsored by the Crawford Howard Private Foundation. It is held in the beautiful Love Chapel, designed by out late friend Jack Tucker, with a delightful sandwich lunch and a nominal fee is charged. Reservations are required.

Costume Twilight Tour

  In June, 2008, I noticed that Elmwood Cemetery was sending some Costume Twilight Players up to Court Square at lunch time as a part of the Downtown Memphis Commission's Downtown Alive series. I attended and enjoyed, and then said to Kim McCollum (Executive Director of Elmwood) that "I want to do that!" Kim responded that she had been on my first-ever Manhole Cover Tour earlier that year (May 7) and that I was "ham enough" to qualify! No kidding. The gist of the Costume Twilight Tour is that it is not a Halloween "scary" type thing, but interesting and informative walk through the grounds of Elmwood with costumed characters portraying residents buried in Elmwood in first-person scripts of about seven minutes in length. Visitors walk from station to station within the grounds to hear about ten or so "actors" give their stories on a delightful Autumn afternoon/evening.

  So, I said find me a railroad man (so I could have an excuse to grow mutton chop sideburns -I thought). Well, in 2008 she found Avery G. Warner, a 60-year Illinois Central railroad veteran from Bartlett, Tennessee - but he did not have the mutton chops! Avery G. Warner was the engineer that handed off "The Cannonball Express" (Engine # 382) on April 29, 1900 at Poplar Street Station in Downtown Memphis to Casey Jones, who drove the engine to his death in Vaughn, Mississippi later in the wee hours of April 30. Elmwood provided the script, and about a week before the 2008 Costume Twilight Tour, descendants of the Avery G. Warner family did contact me about it all. Mary Wade, his daughter and then 99-years-young, attended the tour that evening (she is now 102). But, it was great to "learn" a script, "act" a part and meet the family.

  In 2009, I was selected to be Lloyd T. Binford, President of the Lincoln-American Life Insurance Company, and a very infamous Mayor-appointed President of the Memphis Censor Board from the 1920s-1950s. Mr. Binford's leadership of the Censor Board was so strict that in Hollywood terms, it came to be known as being "Binfordized" if your movies were banned from Memphis.

  I was unable to be in the cast of the 2010 Costume Twilight Tour due to a scheduling conflict, but I was able to assist for a while at the book table and queuing station by the Cottage, which showed me a whole different side of the event. But that year, I was able to be Charles G. Fisher, President of the Citizens Relief Committee during the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878. The program was entitled "Voices Of Yellow Fever" in a four-part play, with three other actors (Vincent Astor, Cookie Swain and Linley Schmidt) portraying other roles at a presentation in the Love Chapel at a dinner and a lunch session on September 9-10, 2010. With so many victims of the Yellow Fever epidemics buried in at Elmwood, Elmwood has several special programs in September annually to commemorate both the victims and the courageous martyrs that served.

  In January, 2011, at the close of giving a "Know Your Neighborhood" presentation at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, I was approached by Mary Clyde McKnight about her family member, John Reid McClanahan, the owner and editor-in-chief of The Memphis Daily Appeal, who was buried in Elmwood in 1865, but did not get a marker until 1991. His legacy was that of publishing The Memphis Daily Appeal over a three-year period of time, through three states and over 1,000 miles throughout the South - just one step ahead of Federal troops from June 5, 1862 to April, 1865. As mentioned above in the story, "The Moving Appeal" will become a timely 2012 lecture as we are in the midst of the Sesquicentennial years of Commemoration of the Civil War. The 2012 Costume Twilight Tour is tentatively set for Saturday, October 27 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. Mark your calendar.

Volunteer Tree Waterer

  There are all sorts of volunteer opportunities at Elmwood Cemetery. Currently the staff is formalizing a three-part program for volunteers that focuses on opportunities in landscaping, marker care and tours & acting. In the long, hot, dry Summer of 2010, I was able to become the exalted position of Volunteer Tree Waterer. Supporters had donated about seventy saplings to replace some of the aged, diseased or fallen trees in Elmwood (a Class 2 Arboretum in the State of Tennessee). The older, more mature trees could withstand the heat and lack of rain, but the younger trees could not. So, zones of about fourteen trees each within the rolling grounds were set up for volunteers to come in on a weekly basis to water. The volunteer would go to the maintenance compound, locate a golf cart that had a 55-gallon drum attached to the back; then fill the drum with water and head for his/her zone. Now, to be alone in Elmwood on a golf cart with the freedom to go anywhere (as long as you did not hit a marker) was very special - and boy did I learn a lot! In the eighty acres of Elmwood there are 75,000 people buried there, with all sorts of stories. It is also a great "quiet" time to learn your script for the Costume Twilight Tour. It is always ninety minutes well spent.

Other Things

  Two years ago when asked by a writer from The Commercial Appeal about romantic places to go in Memphis for Valentine's Day, my mind's first response was Elmwood Cemetery - and the writer wrote that! But, Elmwood is a very beautiful place and romantic is not a misnomer. When Tommy McEwen called me last year to say that his brother Buddy (who passed away in 2007) had left an intention behind to have a marker at Elmwood (to let the world know that he did exist, since his remains were cremated), we organized a service to dedicate the marker. So, you never know what will happen at Elmwood or how you will get drawn into it. But once Elmwood has you, it will never let go!

I have found the staff to be always alert and responsive, as well as full of initiative.
I am amazed by the variety of educational and historical programming that occurs at Elmwood Cemetery, and you will be to

Elmwood Cemetery, founded in 1852 on the south part of Memphis (at the time), is eighty acres of rolling grounds with about 75,000 residents interred. It is located at 824 South Dudley Street, just south of Crump Boulevard. The contact number is 901-774-3212 and the web site is www.elmwoodcemetery.org.

Next “Detour”
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