Local History Comes Alive:Highlands DO!Zeum to Host Walking with the Past

Local History Comes Alive:

Highlands DO!Zeum to Host Walking with the Past

Gwen Akers

The Ashland Beacon

The Highlands DO!Zeum honors local history this Saturday, October 10, with its annual Walking with the Past tour. Reenactors will bring to life prominent historical figures involved in the founding and prosperity of Ashland, KY, for a one-night-only show.

    “This is one of my favorite events we do. It is so wonderful to see the public’s interest in Ashland’s history,” explained Highland's curator and registrar Heather Whitman.

    The event has a long history of connecting the community with its past. While many of us think of history in relation to textbooks in high school, Walking with the Past encourages us to think of all the people who have come before us and worked to make Ashland into the shining city it is today. Reenactors will portray characters such as Mrs. Mayo, widow of coal and timber tycoon John C.C. Mayo and director of Mayo Companies; John Means, a leading businessman who helped plan Ashland Cemetery; Ashland Poage, the first child born after the city renamed itself Ashland; Emma Horton, a teacher at the Booker T. Washington School; Annie Poage, the first woman to become a Kentucky Colonel in 1919; and many more.  

Jessica Lucas-Adkins, a Boyd County native and now owner of a horse farm and wedding venue, has always been interested in history and genealogy and felt this was an excellent opportunity to share the stories of the past. Lucas-Adkins will portray Mary Elliott Flannery, a teacher who founded the Morehead State Teachers College and served as the first woman legislator in Kentucky and the first woman to be elected to the legislature south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

    “I did a lot more research to try to bring her to life. I didn't want to just read a biographical statement about her; I wanted to be that character. I researched and found out that, surprisingly, I have a lot in common with her. I, too, have a teaching degree. She was a teacher at first, and she actually started Morehead State University Teachers College, which I am a graduate of,” explained Lucas-Adkins.

The tour will be offered at 4:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., with dinner included. The walking tour will take participants through various sections of the cemetery, divulging the history behind historic buildings, schools, businesses and even the famous Weeping Lady. At its core, however, the event seeks to educate the community about the people who have shaped Ashland, sharing their stories and keeping them alive.  

  “I think that storytelling is the best way to get to know about history. I homeschool my two children, and the things that I see that are the most effective with them and in my teaching, career are that whenever you're telling people facts and dates and information, yes, that's all well and good, and it's interesting. However, if you really bring it to life and show the people behind the dates and the movements and different things, that's where people really grasp on and make that connection,” explained Lucas-Adkins.

    To learn more about the stories that have created and influenced our city, be sure to check out the Walking with the Past tour this weekend. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the Highlands at 606.329.8888.