Description and review of Her Story Beneath Our Feet: Women who Shaped and Shocked Sacramento, a 90-minute walking tour of the Sacramento Historic Old City Cemetery.
A Bit of Background
The nonprofit Old City Cemetery Committee hosts a variety of themed walking tours during the year featuring the residents of the Historic Old City Cemetery. Ticket purchases help the Committee fund, among other things, the restoration and repair of historic monuments and headstones.
March is Women’s History Month. Given for the first time, the sold-out mid-month tour showcased a variety of Sacramento women who were trailblazers, rebels and change-makers.
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Her Story Beneath Our Feet
A good-sized group gathered inside the entrance of the Historic Old City Cemetery at 3:00 p.m. on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in mid-March. Several members of the Renaissance Society, including myself, were in attendance.
Deborah, who had researched the women featured on the tour, was our guide. She did a great job, adding context with additional historical information about the times during which these women lived.
Among the women highlighted were:
Esther Birdsall Darling (1868-1965)
Esther Birdsall Darling, an author and poet and so much more! She married and moved to Nome, Alaska where she opened a sled dog kennel. She and her husband organized the first long-distance dogsled race.
Among the books she authored is Baldy of Nome, a classic children’s book about a sled dog in Alaska and the bond between a boy named Ben and his dog Baldy.
Aimee Crocker (1863-1941)
Dubbed “Queen of Bohemia” for her uninhibited, sexually liberated and non-conformist lifestyle, Aimee also was a mystic, world traveler and author. She penned a biography/travel book And I’d Do It Again, describing her life and adventures.
Anna Madah Hyers Fletcher (1855-1925)
Anna was one of the two Hyers Sisters, African American performers who made their Sacramento musical debut as children in 1867. By 1871 the sisters were touring nationally, becoming the first African American women to achieve mainstream success in opera and concert performance.
Luella Buckminister Johnston (1861-1958)
A suffragist and business owner, Luella was the first woman to hold a California city elected office, doing so as a member of the Sacramento City Council.
Dr. Theodora Purkitt (1856-1923)
Theodora was one of the first women physicians in the Sacramento Valley. She attended Cooper Medical College where she graduated with honors in 1894.
Laura May Tilden Wilson (1872-1928)
Laura was a suffragist who became the first female Nevada lawyer when she passed the bar in 1893. She later became the only woman at the time to practice law in Sacramento.
Mary Rupp (1832-1857)
Mary was the owner of the Sacramento Beer Saloon where she sang and played the piano. She was stabbed to death by an admirer while sitting at her piano in her establishment. She had refused his persistent advances because she was engaged.
Deborah pointed out to us a small headstone next to that of Mary’s. Her intended, who died in San Francisco four years after her death, had left instructions that after his death his heart was to be removed from his body and buried next to Mary.
To Sum Up
To sum up, the tour was a most enjoyable way to spend a late afternoon. The Old Historic City Cemetery is beautiful, the flowers were in full bloom, the birds were chirping, and there was a light breeze. What more could one ask?
The tour was both informative and interesting, and I expect that next year it will be offered again to celebrate Women’s History Month.
See related blog posts: Sacramento’s Rose Garden’s – Sacramento Historic Rose Garden and Underground After Hours Tour – Old Sacramento
Comments on the Her Story Beneath Our Feet tour?
Have you attended any of the other tours given by the Committee at the Historic Old City Cemetery?
Historic Old City Cemetery Snapshot:
- 1000 Broadway at 10th Street
- Limited Cemetery Parking/Street Parking
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