Local historical figures come “alive” to talk about their contributions to Great Falls, Montana, and the world on Sunday, June 30 at Highland Cemetery during the 14th annual Waking the Dead storytelling tours.
The tours run at 1 pm and again at 3 pm at 2010 33rd Ave S in Great Falls. Tour takers will see 10 grave sites as storytellers, dressed in period-appropriate outfits, will present the story of those buried there. This event is scheduled each year on the Sunday afternoon closest to the birthday of Great Falls Founder Paris Gibson, who was born on July 1, 1830. This year will mark his 194th birthday!
Tour tickets are $20 to ride, $15 to walk and are available at Kaufmans Menswear, 415 Central Ave. Cars will park in the field inside the cemetery gate where three trailers and trucks will be waiting to be loaded. At the conclusion of the tours, participants will receive a booklet with photos and the featured grave stories provide by Croxford Funeral Home & Crematory.
This year, for the first time ever, the tours will include a trek through Potter’s Field, known as the five acres “for the burial of the poor,” as mentioned in the original land transaction between Paris Gibson, James and Annie Lewis and Cascade County. The earliest burial in this section was 1894, and the latest was 1946. There are 1,063 persons buried (interred) there. There were a variety of reasons for one to be buried there, with the primary one being that the family could not afford a grave. The research on Potter’s Field has been led by Renee Phillips from Highland Cemetery, with the help of Gary Campbell at the Great Falls Genealogical Society, as well.
Author: Staff
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