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Date: 9/22/2022
WESTFIELD – The annual Ghost Tours at the Old Burying Ground are returning for 2022 with some new characters from Westfield history.
The Ghost Tours will take place in eight timeslots the evenings of Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, and will feature a new script with many new characters for the first time since 2019. Historical Commission Chair Cindy Gaylord said that the tours had been using a script designed for the city’s 350th anniversary celebrations in 2019 and 2021, and no tours were given in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, she said, organizers are again adding some new “ghosts” from Westfield history. One addition is Gen. Warham Parks, who led a group of Minutemen from Westfield to Boston to participate in the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1776. Another will be the Rev. Nehemiah Bull, the second pastor at the First Congregational Church, after the Rev. Edward Taylor.
Some information will come from the character of the Rev. John Ballantine, Bull’s successor, who left behind a journal which Gaylord said details some funny stories from Westfield history.
One of the most prominent additions is that of the Ingersoll family, of whom John Ingersoll was a founding resident of Westfield. In October last year, a gravestone was donated for John Ingersoll by his living descendants, after his original stone in the Old Burying Ground was lost to time.
A staple of Westfield history, the Rev. Edward Taylor, will not be featured in this year’s tours, as he has many times in the past. Taylor was Westfield’s first pastor, a role he served in for 60 years. Taylor’s son, Eldad Taylor, will make an appearance. Eldad became Westfield’s town clerk, and the actors will portray situations gleaned from some of his legal notes from his time in that position.
Some of the actors for this year’s tours include Mayor Michael McCabe, state Sen. John Velis, former state Sen. Mike Knapik, and Mass Appeal host Patrick Berry.
Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased at the Westfield Athenaeum, 6 Elm St., Westfield. All proceeds from the tours will go back into the maintenance and preservation of the Old Burying Ground.