Tours Offer Chance to ‘Meet’ the Dead at the Oakwood Cemetery

Volunteer assumes the personas of a number of people buried at one of the oldest cemeteries in Syracuse

By Mary Beth Roach

 

“Not everybody is famous. But everybody has a story.”

A volunteer with the Historic Oakwood Cemetery Preservation Association, Sue Greenhagen uses this quote from her late sister as inspiration for the tours and presentations she does of Syracuse’s Oakwood Cemetery and their “residents” (as she calls them).

Oakwood, established in 1859, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Syracuse and is the final resting place for more than 60,000 souls. It is bordered by Interstate 81, East Colvin Street, Comstock Avenue and the Syracuse University campus.

HOCPA was organized in 1991 to help maintain the cemetery’s 160 acres and, according to its website, raises funds to repair damaged monuments and provides public tours in “a wonderful outdoor museum.”

Many people might walk through the picturesque cemetery for exercise or to get outside and they see headstones and names, “but they don’t know the rest of the story,” Greenhagen said.

“I feel that my job is to bring out those stories, do the research, find out what’s really interesting and share it,” said the 78-year-old historian and Morrisville resident.

Greenhagen said she assumes the personas of a number of those souls, both men and women and often dresses in period costume to add to the authenticity.

“It’s just another way to present the stories and make it more personal for people,” she said.

She began doing the HOCPA tours in 2007 as Oakwood resident Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage and she has become a favorite. She was the widow of Russell Sage, a financier, railroad executive and one-time congressman who amassed a fortune and left it all to his widow upon his death in 1906. It was valued at about $70 million, which would be approximately $2.4 billion in today’s dollars.

Margaret Sage became a philanthropist, donating to a number of educational institutions, such as Syracuse and Cornell universities and other organizations and she established the Russell Sage College in the Albany area. She died in 1918 and is buried in Section 3 at Oakwood.

Sage began her life in Syracuse and although she did not come from wealth, she went on to become one of the wealthiest women in America, Greenhagen said.

“Now that’s a story unto itself. And there she is buried in Oakwood Cemetery. You lasso people in with that kind of story and then you go and share some of the other stories. It’s just a whole different experience for people,” she said.

In choosing who she’ll portray, she explained that she generally picks a section of the cemetery first, goes through the roster of everyone buried there and one will inspire her.

The research that Greenhagen does for each of her characterizations comes naturally to her.

“I’ve spent my life studying history and at 78 years old, I’ve learned a lot of history,” she said. She has master’s degrees in both history and library science, is a retired academic librarian from Morrisville State College and she’s been the historian for the village of Morrisville and the town of Eaton.

“You find out some really interesting things and not always good,” she said.

One example might be Mary Druce Gannon, another persona Greenhagen does. Gannon was accused, along with her mother, in the 1884 grisly murder of her father in Herkimer. Her mother was hanged and although she kept claiming her innocence, Mary was sentenced to life in jail. She was pardoned 10 years later, married a Syracuse man and upon her death in 1915, was buried in Oakwood in Section 52.

Another favorite of Greenhagen’s is Blanche Weaver Baxter, an actress, art leader and suffragist.

Born in Cicero in 1856, she traveled to New York City, became an actress, and married William Baxter, an associate editor of the New York Tribune. She returned to Syracuse after Baxter’s passing and became an art instructor, president of the League for Political Equality and a charter and life member of the League of Women Voters.

When Greenhagen assumes her persona, she wears a purple skirt and yellow hat (the colors of women’s suffrage) and a “Votes for Women” sash. Blanche Baxter is in section 30.

While attending a tour is the best way to experience Oakwood Cemetery and the residents’ stories, according to Rick Naylor, president of HOCPA, not everyone is able to attend them.

So, the organization offers Power Point presentations and one of Greenhagen’s is titled, “Live Oaks and Dead Folks.”

“If that doesn’t pique one’s interest, nothing will,” she noted with a chuckle.

Greenpagen does not limit her portrayals to the “residents” of Oakwood Cemetery. For example, she has assumed the characters of local historical figures for the Onondaga Historical Association’s ghost walks and this past year, she addressed second graders at the Morrisville Public Library as Mary Phelps, who had lived in that building in the 1800s. Her long-standing character is William F. Bonney, who served as sheriff of Madison County during the mid-19th century and the era of the Loomis Gang, which hailed from that area.

Cemetery tours are popular, as Naylor explained, “as people are more interested in genealogy and history. With famous burial sites and beautiful scenery, a cemetery tour becomes an educational experience highlighting those buried there and the cemeteries’ history.”

For more information on the presentations, tours, events, donation and volunteering opportunities, visit hocpa.org; write to hocpaoakwood@gmail.com or call 315-263-7159.