The Kalona Historical Society and Iowa Mennonite Historical Society will present cemetery walks through the Sharon Hill Cemetery on Oct. 10 from 5-7 p.m. and Oct. 11 from 1-3 p.m.

Volunteers will be portraying six different individuals or families from the 19th century: John and Eliza Myers; Calvin, Ellen and Cleola Grady; B.F. Hochstetler, Joseph S. and Eliza Yoder; Daniel N. Troyer and Daniel Wertz.

The volunteers will be dressed in period-appropriate costumes, sourced either from the Kalona Historical Village or supplied by the actors themselves. Gloria Yoder, director of the Iowa Mennonite Historical Society said one actor is even having an Amish suit made specifically for the event.

The coat Daniel Wertz wore during his wedding is held by the historical society, but, Yoder remarked, he must have been a small man because the coat is too small to be worn by any of the volunteer actors.

While the cemetery is open freely to the public, there is great benefit to a guided tour, said Kalona Historical Society managing director Nancy Roth.

“I know a lot of people think they can just visit the cemetery and get all the information, see the names and the dates,” Roth said. “But I think the fact that we’re putting people, real faces, behind those names, people that none of us ever met or knew, makes it a little more interesting.”

Yoder, staff from the historical societies and other volunteers worked to research the personal lives and stories of the people buried the Sharon Hill Cemetery.

Research began over the summer, in late July or early August. The researchers used some obituaries found by Yoder, archives of The Kalona News, and books they had available at the Iowa Mennonite Historical Society, such as “From Hazelbrush to Cornfields: The First One Hundred Years of the Amish-Mennonites in Johnson, Washington, and Iowa Counties of Iowa, 1846-1946” by Kadie Yoder Lind.

Roth said she hopes events like the cemetery walk will inspire more interest in history among Kalona residents and other locals.

“When I started working [at the Kalona Historical Village], I think we were seen more as a tourist destination, rather than a local destination,” Roth said. “The locals always come for Fall Festival, but that might be the only time they come by… A lot of the locals drive the highway every day, see the buildings sitting here and don’t truly know what’s in them or what the stories are behind them.”

While the pandemic has caused a decline in visitors to the Kalona Historical Village, Roth said the overall traffic wasn’t quite as bad as they had suspected. Many families planned staycations and daytrips in lieu of larger and farther vacations, and some of those families found the Historical Village.

Roth said she’s had visitors remark recently that they were pleasantly surprised by the programming offered at the village: ‘We didn’t realize what you had here,’ they said.

“We try really hard to have different displays up. We’re building a new museum and working hard on that,” Roth said. “History does fascinate a lot of people, but you’ve got to get them here to see it, first.”