Symposium

Book Signings Today!

Breakfast with the Presidents

Meandering Among the Markers: Writing & Reflection Workshops

 

My book now has its own landing page!

Post on the TLAN blog: "Wind phones" in cemeteries: an act of personal and community transformation

Tombs and Tomes Book Festival at Congressional Cemetery

I will be at the Tombs and Tomes Book Festival at Congressional Cemetery 

Sunday, 4/21 from 11 am until 4 pm, rain or shine.

 

October Candlelight Tours at Old City Cemetery-- the best living history event!

This year was the 16th season of the Candlelight Tours at Old City Cemetery Museums and Arboretum; it was my first time attending after wanting to go for many years. I attended on October 21 and was on the 8:10 tour, which I think was the last tour of the night and the last tour of the season. 

It was also right after I packed up from holding a book signing event in
the cemetery, so the evening felt extra special.

 The sky was clear and the moon was bright in the sky as visitors were led by lantern light by our “Spirit Guide” through the cemetery to visit six vignettes of actual cemetery residents “from beyond the grave” to hear “their fascinating tales of life — and death.” 

The scene actors and spirit guides were phenomenal. The amount of work that went into this event showed in all the details-- a great script, skilled actors and performers as well as parking attendants (old cemeteries just are not equipped for the size of today’s vehicles or any vehicles!), those who placed hundreds of candlelight bags along the paths, to the ticket takers. 

It was everything that I wanted it to be and more! It was one of the best living history events that I've ever witnessed, which just makes me love Old City Cemetery even more. 

It’s one of my top 3 favorite cemeteries for a reason. Also, it is perfectly normal to have a list of favorite cemeteries. I was excited to see a women writer from my book represented on the tour, but I had not expected that she would be the guest speaker at a church celebration. 

Actress Makeda Payne brought Ms. Lizzie Chambers Hall to life! I wanted to cry and hug her! It was quite emotional, especially since she was portraying a woman writer who is not frequently showcased. 

That is one of the best parts of these candlelight tours- they are not about being spooky or merely spotlighting the who’s who from the cemetery; each year, different cemetery residents are featured after months of research. 

I appreciated that the interpretation of history included three examples of Black women who were interpreted through the lens of Black joy- these women's stories (including Lizzie Chambers Hall, Harriet Burton, Judy Rieves) were respected and celebrated. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed the story of George Liskecomb Wilkinson who enlisted in the army and earned the rank of Sergeant in the Army Air Corps. Actor Russell Hill played George Wilkinson, which was extra special since Wilkinson had been the actor’s Boy Scout leader when he was young. 

Old City Cemetery even offered an accessible matinee tour during the day for those who were not able or interested in taking the nighttime tour. It was certainly dark! 

The tour brought our senses to life with the smell of apple pies (I believe these were actually fragrant apple candles or I missed out on tasty some pie!); I even went home with smoke from the bonfire in my hair. It was a magical night that I cannot imagine being topped.

Book signing at Old City Cemetery tonight!

It’s going to be a busy day but look at this photo of Lizzie Chambers Hall! My heart is so big right now

A few photos from today’s Edgar Allan Poe focused tour at Shockoe Hill Cemetery!

Ashland Museum guided walking tours and HistoryTalks

 

Click image for the Ashland Museum Facebook page

On Tuesday, Nov 7, Sharon Pajka, literature professor and cemetery historian, will talk about her book Women Writers Buried in Virginia. The HistoryTalk also takes place in Brock Commons SunTrust Theater [Randolph-Macon College] at 6p.m.

October 21st, from 5:30 - 8pm at Old City Cemetery- Last Night of their Candlelight Tours

 "Announcing a Very Special Guest on October 21st, from 5:30 - 8pm! Dr. Sharon Pajka, author of Women Writers Buried in Virginia, will be joining us to chat about her book, and sign copies for anyone who is interested! Her book features (among lots of incredible women) the writing & life of Lizzie Chambers Hall, who rests here at OCC, and who is a character in this year's Candlelight Tours" 

Pollinators Tour at Old City Cemetery (First Virginia Chapter AGS Event!)

Pollinators Tour at Old City Cemetery

We're looking forward to the first Virginia Chapter of AGS event -the Pollinators Tour at Old City Cemetery, this Sunday 1 PM – 2:30 PM. We hope you will join us!

Event link

1863 Brown's Island Laboratory Disaster- the graves in Shockoe Hill Cemetery

On May 10, 2023, I attended a history tour at Shockoe Hill Cemetery. I was excited because Bert Dunkerly, a historian, author, and National Park Ranger was the guide and because of the topic—the Brown’s Island Disaster.  

On Friday, March 13, 1863- Friday the 13^th- the Confederate Laboratory, a munitions manufacturing facility on Brown’s Island that produced much of the ammunition for the Confederacy, and which employed about 300 women and girls, exploded. The Richmond Whig reported that “the force of the explosion demolished about fifty feet of the house, the sides being blown out and the roof falling…”[I]

Dunkerly’s tour explicitly focused on the fourteen young girls who were victims of the 1863 explosion who are buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery. This was the first time Dunkerly gave the tour and I was looking forward to hearing their stories. 

 

The Laboratory employed about 300 women and girls. They were working class people hoping to make a dollar to two dollars per day by producing small arms cartridges and artillery ammunition. The location of the disaster was a structure that held a variety of activities, including breaking open cartridges to be reused, and filling new cartridges. As Dunkerly explained, there was loose powder everywhere and these activities should have been done in the same space. 

One teenager, Mary Ryan, an Irish immigrant who “was known for being careless” and had been corrected prior to the disaster, was working with friction primers that were used to ignite the powder charges in ammunition. While Ryan was working with the primers, one became stuck; she banged the wooden block to dislodge it. 

Richmond Whig, March 14, 1863.

Even having been reprimanded in the past, how could a teenager possibly grasp the severity of the situation. One can imagine how little training these young girls must have had and how the safety regulations were so different from today. Ryan’s banging set off a spark that ignited the gun powder in the room. The explosion devastated the structure and ten of the workers were killed instantly, including Alice Johnson and Mary Zerhum, both just 12 years old, and Wilhelmina Defenbach, 15, who also died immediately after the explosion. 

I grew up about twenty miles from Brown’s Island but the explosion wasn’t something that I was taught in school. I don’t recall learning anything about it until adulthood perhaps because it involved many young women including those as young as 10 and they were mostly German and Irish immigrants. The tour was held nearly 160 years and two months after one of the worst manufacturing accidents of the Civil War in the South and unfortunately, it was poorly attended. I point this out for a reason that I will explain later.

Emma Blankenship, 15

 

Alice Johnson, 12

Blankenship, Richmond Dispatch, March 20, 1863

Dunkerly’s tour explicitly focused on the fourteen young girls who were victims of the 1863 explosion who are buried in Shockoe Hill Cemetery. This was the first time Dunkerly gave the tour and I was looking forward to hearing their stories. 

 

The Laboratory employed about 300 women and girls. They were working class people hoping to make a dollar to two dollars per day by producing small arms cartridges and artillery ammunition. The location of the disaster was a structure that held a variety of activities, including breaking open cartridges to be reused, and filling new cartridges. As Dunkerly explained, there was loose powder everywhere and these activities should have been done in the same space. 

 

One teenager, Mary Ryan, an Irish immigrant who “was known for being careless” and had been corrected prior to the disaster, was working with friction primers that were used to ignite the powder charges in ammunition. While Ryan was working with the primers, one became stuck; she banged the wooden block to dislodge

it. 

Virginia C. Page, 13

Richmonders rushed to the scene only to be met by victims who were seriously wounded from burns, lacerations, and blunt force trauma. The wounded were taken to General Hospital #2 that had been the former tobacco factory of S. W. Bailey and Company. 

I can only imagine how overwhelmed the families must have felt. And while there were advertisements in the newspapers and Richmonders donated funds to help with the costs of the injured, burials began immediately with several of the victims being interred on the same day.  

 Mary Zerhum, 12

Virginia Page, Richmond Dispatch, March 16, 1863.

     

                                  

Mary Valentine, 14, and Margaret Drustly, 16

Martha Clemmons, 25, and Margaret Alexander, 14

Virginia Mayer, 12, and Wilhelmina Defenbach, 15

Caroline Zietenheimer, 16

 

 

Nannie Horan, 14

My photos of the graves of Mary Ellen Wallace, 12 and Anne E. Bolton, 14 did not turn out but I plan to return to visit these girls .

One poignant moment of the tour was when Dunkerly shared how with so many war-related memories happening, this disaster did not continue to make the newspapers. His research could not find mention of the first or tenth anniversaries being recognized with wreath-laying ceremonies or even tributes in the paper. With so many lives affected by the explosion, it's unlikely the tragedy was forgotten by those close to the victims. A low tour turnout reinforced the message of these girls being forgotten. I'm so appreciative of researchers like Dunkerly and the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery for working to keep their stories alive. 

---

[i] “Terrible Explosion at the Government Laboratory,” The Richmond Whig, Sat March 14, 1863, 1. 

Our first Virginia Chapter of AGS event!

Pollinators Tour at Old City Cemetery (First Virginia Chapter AGS Event!)

Old City Cemetery Museums and ArboretumSUNDAY May 21 - 1 PM – 2:30 PM

Presentation- "Cemetery Guidebooks and Forgotten Women: Women Writers Buried in Virginia Cemeteries"

This FREE lecture is presented as part of The Life & Death Online Virtual Event, June 4-6, 2021.

Lecture- "Cemetery Guidebooks and Forgotten Women" is this Sunday, June 6th at 12pm ET

Many historic cemeteries include self-guided maps and visitor guides. These guidebooks are heavily focused on military heroes, founding fathers, political leaders, and the who’s who in that region’s history. I quickly scan guides to find the famous or infamous females who helped build a region’s history. More often than not, from the dozens of entries, there are usually only a few women mentioned rendering the majority of women invisible. In 2020, I made a point to create my own guidebook. 

My first presentation about my research, "Cemetery Guidebooks and Forgotten Women" is this Sunday, June 6th at 12pm ET. This FREE lecture is presented as part of The Life & Death Online Virtual Event, June 4-6, 2021. A unique event exploring matters of life, death and beyond...For more details about the LIFE & DEATH ONLINE VIRTUAL EVENT, visit: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lifeanddeathevent2021

#lifeanddeathevent2021

My research showcases forty-four women writers buried in Virginia cemeteries who have had an impact on local American history. Gothic novelists, writers of Westerns, and African American poets, the women writers in this collection include those who were widely popular during their lifetimes, those whose work may not have lasted the test of time due to the nature or style of the writing, those who still show up in college anthologies, and those whose works were made into popular movies.

The profiles include a Pulitzer Prize winner, the first woman writer to be named Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the bestselling mystery author often called "the American Agatha Christie," the first woman to top the best-seller lists in the twentieth century, the first Virginian African American women to be included in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, the writer so popular that when she died it was the first time that a court ruled that a deceased person’s name was taxable, one of the “Devil Diarists” of Winchester, wives of Civil War leaders who completely reinvented themselves after the war, suffragettes, authors of children’s literature, and even a poet who received praise from Edgar Allan Poe.

While my research is specific to Virginia, it is also universal in that I hope it inspires others to seek out the women who had an impact on their region’s history. A wealth can be found standing in the very locations where these women lived and were buried.

Part of my collection of cemetery maps and guidebooks