Alton’s Vintage Voices cemetery tours mark 21st year, opening on Oct. 1
The annual Vintage Voices tours, held in the Alton Cemetery, are returning for the 2022 season on the following dates: Oct. 1, 2, 8, and 9.
Tours leave from the cemetery gate every 15 to 20 minutes between 12 noon and 2:30 pm. The cemetery is located at 5th and Vine Streets in Alton.
A non-walking performance will also be held on Oct. 9, 2022, at Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E. Broadway, Alton.
Vintage Voices is produced by a volunteer committee and volunteer actors who bring the history of Alton to life.
This year the tours will have nine stops with actors portraying:
- Marcellus H. Filley, a private night watchman who was murdered on Halloween
- Lyne Shackelford Metcalfe, an Alton mayor and a founding board member of the Alton Unitarian Church, and his wife Sarah Baker Metcalfe, the daughter of prominent Alton attorney David Jewell Baker
- Colonel John Kuhn who joined the Alton Jaeger Guard and served as one of the Company’s lieutenants
- Rev. Austin Otey, a preacher at Union Baptist Church which marks its 185th anniversary this year
- Sara Jane Woodson Newton Cohron, a very successful teacher in St. Louis and East St. Louis and the founder of the St. Louis Colored Orphans’ Home, now the Annie Malone Children’s Home
- Henry Mayo who accompanied General J.C. Fremont on the historical “Pathfinding” trip to the Pacific coast
- Alton Woman’s Home resident Alice Georgia and board member Olga Polster will share the story of its founding 125 years ago
- E.P. Wade, the President of the Lovejoy Monument Association, shares the story of the 1897 dedication of the Lovejoy Monument
- Dr. William H.C. Smith and his wife Elizabeth Ellen Blake Smith who founded Beverly Farm 125 years ago
Walking tour tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for ages 6 to 18. Tickets can be purchased online at https://vintagevoices2022.eventbrite.com or with cash at the event.
Pre-event tickets (with no service charge) can be purchased at Picture This & More, 17 E. Broadway, Alton.
The non-walking, one-hour performance begins at 5 p.m. at Jacoby Arts Center. Seating is limited to 60 people. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at https://vintagevoices2022.eventbrite.com or at Picture This & More.
Proceeds from the event support the continuation of the event, upkeep of the Alton Cemetery and various community organizations.
