Ghost Walk

The Onondaga Historical Association held a Ghost Walk the other night.  Because of the rain, it was held in different rooms of the museum.

I had never been on a Ghost Walk and wasn't sure what to expect, but it was fun and very informative.   Four "ghosts" entertained us with their history.

We met Harvey Baldwin, a lawyer, who in 1948 became the first mayor of Syracuse.  The neighboring town of Baldwinsville was named after his father.  He lived on West Onondaga Street and is buried in Syracuse’s Rose Hill Cemetery.

Then we met Constable Jonathan Anderson who discussed life on the Erie Canal in 1846 and how it reflected the social brutality of a quickly changing culture.  Young boys who were neglected by their parents and raised on the street were generating fear in canal neighborhoods with their mischief. The boys saw getting arrested as a badge of honor, and the trauma of serving jail time with hardened criminals only made these wayward children even tougher.

Grace Porter was the first female news reporter in Syracuse, breaking boundaries in the 1800's, shared her challenges as a women reporter:

Our last "ghost" was Madame Gertrude Netter, who originally owned the second largest millinery in Luxemberg,  discussed hiding in an attic and escaping Hitler, forcing her to move to NY in the 1950's, a story quite similar to Anne Frank's.  Her shop was on Salina Street.  Her daughter, Maryce,  went on to work in the same field, training under Yves St Lauren, and winning an award for her millinery designs in the movie Titanic!

The four "ghost actors" told fabulous tales and presented an interesting part of Syracuse's history.  

The OHA Museum is filled with relics from Onondaga's history and I am hoping to do the Ghost walk again in the fall, which takes place in the cemetery!