Lee University history students Peter Nelson and Asa Harris, portraying 19th-century residents Christopher Lafayette and Isabella Hardwick, speak to visitors during the 2012 Lantern Walking Tour at Fort Hill Cemetery in Cleveland, Tenn., on Sunday.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – For a few chilly hours Sunday evening, some of Cleveland’s most famous and colorful personalities came to life on the ridges of Fort Hill Cemetery during the sixth annual Lantern Walking Tour.
Despite the overcast and windy weather, crowds trekked through the cemetery to see and hear re-enactments from the lives of more a dozen of the city’s 19th century movers and shakers, performed at their own gravesides and monuments.
The event, presented by the history faculties of Lee University and Cleveland State Community College and the Bradley County Historical Society, uses senior history majors from Lee to research and portray historic personages.
More than a dozen students, decked out in period clothing, told of their characters’ lives and how they touched Cleveland’s history before, during and after the Civil War.
“I really love the research, but to live it out and to share it is phenomenal,” said Lee senior Shay Slaughter. She portrayed Myra Inman Carter, who left a diary detailing Cleveland’s hardships during the war.