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Re-enactor Charlie Begley will portray Lockport artist Raphael Beck at  Glenwood Cemetery on June 28. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Revisit the past with some new “old” friends as the Niagara History Center’s “Step Back in Time Players” re-enactor troupe begins its summer season at 1 p.m. June 28 at Lockport’s Glenwood Cemetery, 325 Glenwood Ave.

The event promises a tour of the grounds and a chance to "meet" famous Lockportians of the past now residing in the cemetery. This visit with “The People of Glenwood Cemetery” will present well-known men and women offering “first-hand” tales of their interesting lives in our historic community.

Famous Lockportians that attendees will have the opportunity to talk to include:

• “Washington Hunt” (played by Henry Peters), whose life spanned from Lowertown Lockport to the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, with stops along the way to practice law, establish a church, and build a summer home that is a Lockport landmark.
• “Isabella Sutherland” (Marsha Zimmer), of the long-haired, singing family of Sutherland sisters, will share her celebrity life and undying love for her ne’er-do-well husband Frederick Castlemaine. She’ll tell of grave robbers and ghostly happenings around the couple’s shared burial site.
• Artist “Raphael Beck” (Charlie Begley) will describe work on his masterpiece mural, “The Opening of the Erie Canal: October 26, 1825,” whose full-size replica hangs in our Erie Canal Discovery Center. He’ll tell of a lengthy career as an artist and art instructor, with work gracing prominent homes and locations.
• Entrepreneur “Wallace Keep” (Clint Starke), whose home became Lockport’s Presbyterian Home, will speak of his business and philanthropic efforts, as well as his interest in local history.
• Community activist “Arabella Peterson” (Barb Hemphill) will tell of starting Niagara County’s first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

The tour group will meet at the mausoleum parking lot in Glenwood Cemetery. Ticket price is $10 per person. Call the History Center at 434-7433 for reservations.

The “Step Back in Time Players” will also present a tour of Lockport’s Cold Springs Cemetery, 4849 Cold Springs Road at 1 p.m. Aug. 2. You’ll meet more of the past and famous now residing in this historic final resting place during this $10 tour.

Visit with early Lockport settlers “Amy Spalding” (Carol Caisse), and “Lyman Spalding” (Dennis Caisse), both Quakers and abolitionists, and hear of Amy’s community service and Lyman’s entrepreneurial spirit. They’ll be joined by “Eliza Mossell" (Brenda Reaves), community leader and advocate for Lockport's African-Americans; “Charles Upson” (David Zimmerman), industrialist and founder of the Upson Company; and “Birdsall Holly” (Charlie Begley), inventor of the first pressurized fire hydrant.

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