Muncie, Ind. — A cemetery is often thought of as bleak, scary, or just creepy. Many people only ever step foot into a cemetery when attending a funeral, but at the historic Beech Grove cemetery, the community is working to change this. They are hosting a tour of the facilities and having local actors portray historic Muncie natives. These tours are held annually every October.
This year's event organizer, Denise King, has been a part of the organization since 2014.
“Well, really, we feature Munconians who had an impact locally on our history and the national stage,” said King. “So there’s just a wide variety of people we feature. We also discuss the cemetery because it is a nationally registered historic landmark.”
The cemetery spreads across 105 acres of land and is home to many notable figures who had a hand in Muncie’s history.
James Boyce, portrayed by Sean Orlosky, was one of Muncie’s founding fathers. Boyce immigrated to America from Ireland in 1854 and arrived in Muncie in 1870. Over the next forty years, Boyce became a successful and prominent Muncie businessman. With his networking skills, Boyce convinced the Ball brothers to set up multiple businesses in Muncie and even brought innovative technologies to factories.
Orlosky has been an actor on tours for two years, saying, “There’s just something really special about hearing untold chapters of history that you won’t find in your typical textbook.”
Muncie history has some ties to the candy business with Peter Trimton, who Robert Ferguson portrayed. Trimton was a World War two veteran and served as a meteorologist and spy. After the war, he moved to California, where he started his own candy company and candy coating process, which was bought by the MARS candy company and is now used to make M&M’s.
Trimton is credited with inventing the original “melts in your mouth, not in your hands” slogan. Looking to retire and spend time with family, he moved to Muncie.
“What I like that they do is that they change it up. It’s not the same people every year, so every time you come, you get to learn different stories,” said Ferguson. “This is such a large cemetery, so getting to know the stories and how interesting someone is who you’ve never even heard of is great.”
He believes that it is what keeps drawing people back every year.
One actor was delighted with this year's turnout and how many people he could reach with his story. Lathay Pegues is another actor from the Muncie Civic Theater, and this year, he portrayed Reverend J. E. Johnson, a local pastor and mortician.
Johnson’s story takes place during a very dark time in history when people of color were discriminated against. Johnson was tasked with traveling south to Marion, Indiana, to retrieve the bodies of two young men who were slain. Putting himself at risk, Johnson made the journey successfully and went on to work towards preventing more events like that.
“I did my research and got into character,” said Pegues. “I thought about how he would feel. How would I feel if I were in his shoes and had to do that job? It's gone well so far. I just want people to walk away here learning a little bit of history, even though it’s not so good and feel impacted by my character.”
Actors from the tour and community members hope locals walk away with rich stories and a newfound understanding of Muncie’s unique history.
Visit Beechgrovecemetery.com to learn more about the historic Beech Grove cemetery or to get involved.
Contact Aiden Murray with comments at aiden.murray@bsu.edu.
