South Mountain Expeditions Samples Trial & Tribulations

A national tour group of 20 people on the Lincoln Country tour hosted by South Mountain Expeditions visited Oakland on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 for a sampling of Trial & Tribulations.  Their guide was Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service, Ed Bearss. Frank Crawford, a Rutherford descendant and a member of the tour, arranged to have the group stop in Oakland after getting a positive impression of Trial & Tribulations last September.

Oakland was included in the tour between their visits to Charleston and Springfield.  The group met Mary Corbin Matson played by Marylee McGee at Independence Pioneer Village and toured some of the cabins with Traci Montgomery, Rob and April Lee.  Then they moved downtown and met Dr. Hiram Rutherford (played by Kim McGee) and Gideon "Matt" Ashmore (Roger Ashmore in real life) in the Meeting House where the air conditioning kept everyone fairly comfortable. Following that conversation they toured the Rutherford Home and Doctor's Office with Caroline Coon, Hap, and one of their young tour guides.  Each participant was given a copy of the Souvenir Booklet produced and donated by Greg Baker.

As you can tell from the photos the event was a big success.  The group felt it was well worth the extra miles to stop in Oakland to learn about this lesser known Lincoln event.  They were all invited back to the September 17 event.

Volunteers Needed to Help the Project

Volunteers Needed to Direct the Following Areas:

• 1847 Meal - Contact caterer, Designate servers, Table Décor and Prep, Ticket Punch, Clean up…
• Gift Shop – Nova & Rebecca Coon Oversee setup, consignment where needed, sale of items, information…
• Costumes - Contact area resources to oversee costumes needed in all areas of event, both performance andadditional sites.
• Technical Director: Assist Dr. Jorns in the technical issues regarding preparation of performance…stage construction, lighting, adaptations of Columbian Building, etc…
• Assistant Director - Assist Dr. Jorns with note taking, props, auditions, possess love of theatre
• Lighting – Tom Hawk & Mike Rowley - Run lighting board with dimmers, work with Dr. Jorns concerning all lighting materials needed.
• Housing and meals for actors - Need to accommodate approximately 4 folks from Freetown Village (Wednesday evening through perhaps Sunday morning.)
• Town beautification - Includes signage, area business window displays etc…
• Tour guide/Hostess - Guide tour buses and school groups to proper locations, inform guests of restroom locations, show times etc…, must be friendly and enjoy working with public.
• Ticket Sales/Ushers - Handling advance orders, bus tours and seating audience for performances.
• Publicity -Work with Program Director to distribute publicity. Develop a database of area organizations, committees, school, churches etc… to promote the event.
• Musicians – Susan Humphries - Contacted to play period music intermittently and as performance requires.
• Rutherford House – Renee & Landmarks, Inc. - Recruiting volunteers for site preparation, and house tours. Includes working with Ashmore and Rutherford interpreters.
• Pioneer Village – Rev. Bob & Rob Lee - Recruiting volunteers for site preparation, and guides. Includes working with actors from Freetown Village and maybe guest lecturer.
• Museum Display- Renee & Oakland Historical Foundation - Historical Foundation museum display, set up/show documentary film, train hostess/film operators.
• Facility Maintenance - Tents, Tables, Chairs, Portable restrooms where needed, make sure facility on square is presentable and available.
• Performance Director – Dr. David Jorns - Writes script, directs theatre in the round, conducts auditions, works with lighting director etc…
• Photographer - Oversees photo shoot of entire event recruiting help as needed.

We’ve scheduled a Meeting for Volunteers on Monday, March 9^th, 6 pm in the Columbian Building to set up committees, get a visual effect of the performance, review event schedule and share the vision for the overall outcome intended for the event. Please mark your calendar today and plan to join this community endeavor.

Group Tours

Motor coach tours are welcome at the public programs on September 18 and 19, 2009 (4-8:30 p.m. each day or 10:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Saturday). Discounted price for groups is $20/person. Ample parking is available. Tour groups will participate in the following components in small groups:
Groups may choose one of the following schedules (each tour accommodates 65 people):

The Historic Town of Oakland, Illinois

You might not expect a community nestled in the corn fields of Central Illinois to be rich in historical significance. Welcome to Oakland, where you're sure to experience the unexpected! Here, past and present converge in a delightful environment. Visit our historical landmarks, then take a leisurely stroll down the brick streets of our tree-lined square where you will find unique architecture and a potpourri of local businesses.

Oakland also offers a variety of recreational opportunities such as swimming, camping, fishing, sporting clays, and golfing. Walnut Point State Park, just three miles north of town, has a lake, trails and campgrounds.

Oakland Wikipedia

Google Maps-Oakland

Oakland is centrally located about an hour from Champaign/Urbana, Decatur, Danville, Effingham Illinois and Terre Haute, Indiana. The community is three and a half hours from Chicago and St. Louis and about two and a half hours from Indianapolis and Springfield. Interstates 70 and 57 have exits within thirty miles of Oakland.
Hotels are available in Arcola, Charleston, Paris, and Tuscola Illinois.

Abraham Lincoln was a familiar site in this region of Illinois. His father's home was south of Charleston Illinois and is now a state park, Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln's graves are nearby. Charleston also is the home of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate Museum that recounts the 1858 debates between Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas. In Danville you can visit the Vermilion County Museum, designed to replicate the courthouse that was there when Lincoln practiced law, and the adjacent Fithian Home, a Lincoln site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Nearby Arcola and Arthur are at the heart of the Illinois Amish community.