TEXARKANA, Texas -- The Twilight Tours hosted by Texarkana Museums System are walks through Texarkana's history, full of quirky stories of local times past, and the most recent was no exception.
Every first Saturday of the month for three seasons now, TMS curator Jamie Simmons inspires and educates locals about the important and near-forgotten aspects of the Twin Cities' early days. From the Ghio family to traveling missionaries, the tours paint a history of Texarkana as wild and elaborate as the Old West.
The most recent tour destination was Sacred Heart Cemetery on Texas Boulevard. One of three oldest cemeteries in Texarkana, and once outside the city limits, Sacred Heart is the final resting place of many of Texarkana's founders, including the Ghio and Rodgers families. The cemetery also features other interesting historical elements, like portrait headstones and burial sites of immigrants who migrated here from Europe.
One important story told during the tour is of Sister Mary Justine, who came to Texarkana per the request of the Rev. Alexis Barbin, the second priest to lead Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The first priest of Sacred Heart was the Rev. Buffard, who traveled from France to Texarkana to establish the church and the cemetery.
In 1879, Sister Mary Justine and her fellow nuns arrived in Texarkana after traveling by train, coach and at times on foot to reach Northeast Texas from her mother's house to set up a school for the congregation.
At the time, Texarkana was only about six years old and suffering growing pains. Food was scarce, leaving Sister Mary Justine and other nuns with nothing but water and bread to survive on for extended periods of time.
The main positive aspect for Sister Mary Justine was the growing church and the children in need of an education. Although Sister Mary Justine died before her school reached to its full potential, her impact is remembered to this day.
Aside from tours of Sacred Heart, TMS has also guided tours at Rosehill, Hillcrest and Stateline cemeteries. Each season a new cemetery is added to the itinerary.
"We have been extremely pleased with the level of interest in family history, genealogy and cemetery maintenance that these tours have produced," said TMS Board President Velvet Hall Cool.
The tours act as a fast track to learning about some important events and historical figures in the community.
"We don't give ourselves enough credit for the caliber of people from all walks of life that have been nurtured here, some famous and some infamous," Cool said.
One memory Cool has from previous tours is of Fairhaven Cemetery, a predominantly African American cemetery where all of the live history actors were African American volunteers.
"The stories portrayed there hit very close to home for a lot of the crowd who could remember the Dunbar-Washington School football games and other places mentioned by the living history performers," Cool said.
TMS staff and interns prepare research and scripts for the actors. However, in the past, one actor told TMS they would like to do their own research and have it fact checked by the organization.
"That kind of love of history growing from this event makes the Texarkana Museums System so proud," Cool said.
(Twilight Tour tickets are $10 for TMS Members and $15 for others. Tours are held the first Saturday of the month. For more information, visit texarkanamuseum.org.)
TMS Curator Jamie Simmons and living history actors tell forgotten stories of Texarkana's past during the Twilight Tour on May 7 at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Texarkana, Texas. (Staff photo by Erin DeBlanc)