The next History Talk sponsored by the Morrow County Historical Society will be at the Garverick Log House at the Morrow County Fair. The Log House will be open at the fair through Sept. 2. There will be a special talk about the Harding family in Blooming Grove today at 1 p.m.

Leader of the Guided Village Walks in Mount Gilead, Robin Brucker offered a tantalizing tease for the remaining walks and history talks this fall.

“There were boys who found a box of bones,” said Brucker. “Could that have something to do with the strange noises heard at the Senior Center here in Mount Gilead?”

There is only one more Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem 2.0 Village Walk remaining on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. where you can find an answer to that question and hear about several more local mysteries.

The next village walk of the season will be Tombstones and the Stories They Tell on Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Brucker asks guests if they know what the connection is between the large, stately angel statue at Riverside Cemetery and Flying Horse Farm. Another question she asks is why coins and stones are sometimes left on graves.

Brucker said she got the idea for the guided village walks a few years ago when visiting Springfield, Illinois, with her church group headed for the Midwest Mission. A man there does history walks of Abraham Lincoln’s home and locations where Lincoln frequented or visited.

Local Mount Gilead historian Stan Sipe, who passed away this year, had many files of local personalities and events. Many of them were researched in past Morrow County Sentinel articles. Brucker was able to use many of Sipes files when writing the scripts for history walks.

A favorite walk highlighting Sipes research is the Famous and Infamous coming Oct. 3, which includes comedian Bob Hope, Gen. Tom Thumb and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Brucker appreciates the historical society members who have stepped up this summer to lead walks.

“There are just too many walks and talks for me to do them all,” said Brucker.

Also assisting with talks are Kim Porter, with Burgers, Shakes and Pies; Kim Harvey with Murder, Mystery and Mayhem; Mike Wilson and Kevin Evans who are leaders for Tombstones and the Stories They Tell; Dan and Jan Rhodebeck and Patti Feustal who assisted in several walks.

The next History Talk at the History Center will be Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. with Kevin Evans on Where Have All the Granges Gone?, followed by Poetry Live Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. and Letters Live Sept. 24. Letters Live include letters read from the 1800s to kids letters which were donated to the History Center over the years.

For a complete schedule of Guided Village Walks, History Talks and Morrow County Historical Society events, The History Center at 17 W. High St., Mount Gilead, is open every Sunday afternoon from 1:30–4 p.m. There are also new exhibits there in the Military Room, Rum Rill Pottery room, HPM, chapel, post offices in addition to the 1800’s school room, bank vault and medical room.

Self-guided walking tour maps of Mount Gilead and driving tour maps of Morrow County are available in a box at the History Center front door. For more information, visit www.MorrowCountyHistoricalSociety.com.

Alberta Stojkovic is a correspondent for The Morrow County Sentinel. She can be reached at [email protected].