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NESBITT MEMORIAL LIBRARY’S LIVE OAKS and DEAD FOLKS HISTORIC TOUR
Live Oaks & Dead Folks
Highly-acclaimned cemetery tour teaches history, provides spooky good time.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY SUSAN CHANDLER
Incredibly theatrical, hugely historical, and thoroughly entertaining, Nesbitt Memorial Library’s Live Oaks and Dead Folks Cemetery Tour offers a unique annual experience that leaves tourists spellbound.
This year’s tour focuses on the Stafford-Townsend Feud of Colorado County, 1871-1911.
“We’re trying to do characters from the feud that are buried in the Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery,” shared Susan Chandler, library director. “Hopefully it will be a good history lesson for our community. It is hard to believe that it’s only been about 100 years ago since the feud ended. That’s not that far back in history, really.”
According to the book No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell by James C. Kearney, Bill Stein and James Smallwood, “Two family names have come to be associated with the violence that plagued Colorado County, Texas, for decades after the end of the Civil War: the Townsends and the Staffords. Both prominent families amassed wealth and achieved status, but it was their resolve to hold on to both, by whatever means necessary, including extra-legal means, that sparked the feud.”
Tickets for the 2021 Live Oaks and Dead Folks event go on sale October 1 at the Nesbitt Memorial Library. The event is slated for November 6 at 6 p.m. at the Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery in Columbus. All of the actors and guides are volunteers and the cost to take the tour is $10. That price hasn’t changed in 18 years.
“Something that is new that we started last year is a shotgun start,” said Susan. “Everyone starts at the same time and so they all hear the same story, but in a different order depending on which grave they start at. The tour lasts about an hour and a half.”
Above, Donna Pustejovsky portrays Augusta Dick in a past Live Oaks & Dead Folks tour.
Although she’s never been an actor, Susan has a passion for researching the characters and helping to write the scripts and has also volunteered as a guide in years past.
“So much more info is available now online and it’s exciting to discover some tidbit that you may not have known before,” added Susan. “It really adds flesh to their bones! Not everyone who lives and dies leaves a lot of information about themselves, especially in the past. It’s harder to do someone who led a quiet life versus someone who was involved in something tragic – those are the people whose stories are a little more interesting to tell. The people
Left, Malzena Zumwalt poses with wax images of Three-Legged Willie and Stephen F. Austin. The photo was taken on her 101st birthday in 1943. Right, Jim Kearney portrays Edward Sandmeyer.
who did their work, went to church and home, they have a legitimate story, it’s just harder to tell.”
One favorite deceased local that Susan enjoyed working on was a boy scout leader that local businessman, Henry Potter, told her about last year.
“Mr. Potter brought my attention to a boy scout leader named A.W. E. Airey that had also been an Episcopal priest in Eagle Lake and Columbus,” shared Susan. “He was so interesting! He had been in the circus before becoming a priest. We discovered that he made a likeness of Three-Legged Willie and Stephen F. Austin out of wax collected from his altars – candle wax. Malzena Zumwalt shared pictures with the likenesses that he made out of wax. He died very young but left quite an impression on the town through the church, boy scouts, and the Zumwalt family. Of course, that was back when circuses were popular!” The Nesbitt Memorial Library Foundation was originally founded and formed to support the archives at the library. Now they support not only archives, but special projects at the whole library.
“One of our strategic goals is to support local history – that’s the goal of the cemetery tour, as well. It’s not only a small fundraiser, but a community service to promote history,” said Susan.
Nesbitt Memorial Library is located at 529 Washington Street and can be reached by phone at 979-7323392 for more information on the tour.
In addition to the tour, author James C. Kearney will speak on the Stafford-Townsend Feud of Colorado County at the Columbus Historical Preservation Trust History Forum in the Buddy Rau Room at the Stafford Opera House, 425 Spring Street, October 18 at 6 p.m. The event is free to attend.
