By Cecilia Nasmith
The Memoirs of Col. Eliakim Barnum is a Northumberland Players Outreach production that, come Oct. 21, will whisk you back to 1874 to listen to the colonel himself over a light lunch or supper.
It's a collaboration devoutly to be wished for both organizations involved – the Players and the Cobourg/East Northumberland branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, to whom the Ontario Heritage Trust has leased the house with the understanding that the branch stage events throughout the year to allow public access.
ACO members Catherine and Rob Hunter are organizing the light meal (soup, bread and dessert), which Grafton's St. George's Church auxiliary group is catering – very appropriate, since the Barnum family had very close ties with the church right back to its founding, and both Eliakim and Hannah Barnum were laid to rest in the St. George's churchyard.
On the Players side, Jackie Tinson has written the script and is producing the re-enactment with Tim Russell costumed as the colonel. In the course of it all, she has really done her research.
The house was built between 1817 and 1819, Tinson reported. Barnum brought skilled carpenters up from the US for much of the work, because he could find no one locally whom he considered satisfactory. She cited the mantelpiece in the ballroom – which will be the backdrop for the reading – as an example of the very fine craftsmanship evident in the house.
“Eliakim was very proud of the fine woodwork in the house and would have been pleased. It's my hope that one day the chimney will be restored and a fire lit once more in this hearth,” she said.
