The Natchez City Cemetery Association will present the 18th Annual Angels on the Bluff at the Natchez City Cemetery on Nov. 9, 10, and 11, 2017. We invite you to join us for an entertaining and educational evening with some of the most interesting “residents” at our beautiful historic cemetery.

Tours begin at the Natchez Visitor Center (640 South Canal Street) where you board a bus at your reserved ticket time. Upon arriving at the cemetery, our guides will lead you along luminaria-lined avenues to meet:

John Carkeet: Dr. Doug Broome will portray this master craftsman whose plastering and stucco work once adorned many Natchez buildings. A Civil War veteran and father of eight, he was one of eleven victims of the greatest disaster to occur in early twentieth-century Natchez.

Katherine Grafton and J. Balfour Miller: Elodie Pritchartt and Tommy Polk will portray the Millers, former owners of Hope Farm. Mrs. Miller, a founder of the Natchez Pilgrimage, lectured widely in the 1930s, encouraging audiences to make a “pilgrimage” to Natchez to visit its historic homes. Those early pilgrimages, lasting only a few weeks, eventually developed into a year-round tourism industry that now attracts thousands of visitors annually to Natchez.

Robert Stewart: Sam Jones will portray Stewart, a skilled cabinetmaker from Pennsylvania who opened a shop near “Mr. Walter Irvine’s Tavern” in 1819. By the time of his death in 1866, Stewart had also established a thriving undertaking business and become a successful cotton planter.

Lillie Vidal Davis Boatner: “Lillie Vidal,” as she was known to her friends, was a tireless promoter of Natchez in the early days of its tourism industry. Drawing from family stories and a handwritten “Memory Book,” Nancy Hungerford will share some of Lillie Vidal’s most memorable adventures.

Florence Irene Ford: The only child of Washington and Ellen Ford, Florence succumbed to yellow fever at the age of 10. Her unique grave is one of the most visited sites in the cemetery. Morgan Mizell will tell the heartbreaking story of Florence and her mother, whose early life was also marked by tragedy.

L. S. Cornwell: A Kentucky native, Cornwell arrived in the Natchez area in 1865, where he worked as a bookkeeper, blacksmith and editor. Rusty Jenkins and Lyn Fortenbery will share stories of Cornwell and his 30-year friendship with the Drake family with whom he once lived at The Elms.

Lilly Ann Eliza Granderson: Born into slavery in Virginia, Lilly moved to Kentucky at an early age where she learned to read and write. After being sent to Mississippi, where she worked in the fields, her health deteriorated so much that she was allowed to work part-time in the kitchen. For several years she secretly operated a “midnight school,” teaching dozens of fellow slaves to read and write. Carlee Reed will present Mrs. Granderson’s inspiring story.

Other participants in this year’s tour are:

4local violinist David Troutman, whose beautiful period music will be heard throughout the cemetery;

4Curt Smith & Band and the Concordia Parish School of Dance, who will offer a special musical presentation at the gravesite of “gypsy” Ann Youngs; and

4members of Maj. Gen. William T. Martin Camp #590, Mississippi Division Sons of Confederate Veterans.

We look forward to seeing you in November. Tickets go on sale Aug. 1, 2017, at the Natchez Visitors Center. Call 601-446-6345 or 1-800-647-6724.
Teri Tillman is a member of the Natchez Cemetery Association Board.