Bloomington residents take turns to portray their historical co

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- David Davis stood watch near his own tombstone this week, lamenting a political rise that took him to the U.S. Supreme Court but still fell far short of good friend Abraham Lincoln's.

Just a few gravesites away, a railroad worker buried nearly a century ago proudly recounted floorboarding his train to a then-unheard of "mile a minute" as he delivered a truck to help fight the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Every October, as flower pots on front porches give way to jack-o'-lanterns, voices emerge from time-weathered graves in this central Illinois city, apparitions conjured up for the sake of history -- not Halloween.

"The idea is really not to tell spooky ghost stories. It's to teach respect for cemeteries and to tell people about our city's past," said Laura Wheaton, director of education for the McLean County Museum of History.

Thousands of people are getting the lesson this week during Evergreen Memorial Cemetery's ninth annual Discovery Walk, where actors bring to life the names behind some of its 22,500 graves.

Wheaton said the walk was launched to curb vandalism at the cemetery, which has graves dating to 1837, including those of former U.S. Vice President Adlai Stevenson and his grandson, former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson II.

Organizers targeted local sixth through 12th graders, offering tours that used actors to personalize the cemetery and drive home a message of reverence and respect.

Since then, vandalism has dropped by a third and the walk's popularity has grown beyond schools. This year, the cemetery will host 1,600 students, along with about 1,500 adults who will pay to make the two-mile walk through Bloomington-Normal's past.

'Everyday people'

"It brings everyday people to life," Judy Glenn of Bloomington said after walking the cemetery with her family last weekend.

The walks -- which continue through Sunday -- feature both the famous and the obscure, portrayed by Illinois Voices Theater actors in period costumes who prepare scripts based on historical museum research.

A headliner this year is Davis, who rode the circuit with Lincoln and later managed his presidential campaign. Though Lincoln later appointed Davis to the Supreme Court, the judge had presidential aspirations of his own and apparently didn't think his old friend did enough to further them.

"I positioned him but I didn't position myself. I didn't think it was necessary," actor Todd Wineburner said in his portrayal of Davis.

The walk also tells little-known stories, including the civil rights efforts of Belle Blue-Claxton, a black woman who fought Jim Crow laws that segregated blacks and whites in the early 1900s.

"Justice is all we ask for and we will accept nothing less," actress Yetide Badaki said of Blue-Claxton's unsuccessful bid to desegregate swimming facilities in 1919 Bloomington.

This year's walk even offered a bit of cemetery history. Actor Michael Pullin recounted the story of Linus Graves, a wealthy merchant and real estate investor who became a founding partner in the cemetery association.

"The irony of my name has never escaped me," he said. "A man named Graves owning a cemetery."

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On the Net:

McClean County Museum of History: www.McHistory.org