Ghost Walk set for Oct. 26-27

Local residents will be able to discover some "Keys to the Past" when the Cherokee Historical and Preservation Society sponsors its fifth annual Historic Hayride and Ghost Walk on Friday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 27.

Costumed reenactors portray the widow of a Confederate soldier and the executed Tom Harris during the Historic Hayride and Ghost Walk this weekend. Guests can view reenactments by Captain Moses Wood Camp 125 Sons of Confederate Veterans before boarding hayrides to traverse streets of the city's nationally-registered historic district. They will be able to interact with the costumed characters along the way and take an optional walking tour of Oakland Cemetery.

"The event is more about educating people rather than scaring them," Mary Pat Tindall, president of CHAPS, said. "We want to inform people about the area in which they live and take them back in time to the county's roots."

Wandering along the historic streets will be a number of characters based on local figures who will be portrayed by professional actors and production specialists, including Bridget Hawk of Bakersfield, Calif., Kubbi Boone of New York and J. Michael Wray of Spartanburg.

Hawk is a production and marketing specialist from Dunbar, Pa. Her studies and work in Los Angeles, Anchorage, New Zealand and Australia will add an extra intensity and mystery to the tour. Boone brings the style and charge of the New York theatre and film community home to South Carolina. Having family in the Lowcountry, Boone will bring a solid presence and cultural power, reviving the stories of residents from an earlier era.

Wray is a Gaffney native and son of the late Jim and Pat Wray and grandson of C.B. and Nell Poole. He earned his master's degree in theatre from the Dallas Theatre Center and has been involved in professional and regional theatre and the entertainment industry for over 40 years.

The bulk of the material used in the characters' dramatization along the tour route was derived from documented historical records and stories; other material has been expertly created and added for dramatic effects.

"The walking tour of Oakland Cemetery is not required to enjoy the hayride," Tindall said, "but those brave souls who do choose to venture into the cemetery will certainly be enlightened and frightened."

Tours begin at nightfall from the History and Arts Museum at 301 College Drive, with the last tour departing at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12 and can be purchased in advance at the CHAPS's office in the museum.

The South's largest children's museum, EdVenture in Columbia, has donated tickets to be given away at the event. Everyone who purchases a ticket will be entered in the drawing.

Call 864-489-3988 or visit the CHAPS's website at www.cherokeecountyhistory. org for more information.