FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2007
CONTACT: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations,
409-765-7834

New Galveston Historical Foundation Storytelling Series at Samuel May Williams House Begins Saturday, June 2

Families Invited to Bring a Picnic and Watch Dramatic Re-enactments on Grounds

The Flight to Freedom: Part of GHF’s New Storytelling Series, Saturday, June 2, 2007, 10 a.m. to noon, Samuel May Williams House, 3601 Avenue P, $3 for Adults; $2 for Children; Free for children six and younger.
Tour of the Historic House Included. Call 409-762-3933 for more information.

Galveston Historical Foundation will introduce a new storytelling series this Saturday, June 2, as six volunteer re-enactors dressed in 19th-century costumes tell stories about the Underground Railroad on the expansive grounds of Galveston’s second oldest surviving residential dwelling, the Samuel May Williams House. Re-enactors will portray stories from the lives of Harriet Tubman, Box Brown, Catherine and Levi Coffin, and Rachel Garrett, people who either escaped lives of slavery or provided secret shelter to slaves making their way toward freedom on the Underground Railroad during the years before the Civil War.

“The Flight to Freedom: Stories of the Underground Railroad,” is the first of three costumed storytelling sessions planned for the first Saturday morning of every month this summer at the Samuel May Williams House. Participants are invited to bring a picnic and a blanket to spread on the grounds while watching the program. A tour of the historic home is included in the ticket price. Children must be accompanied by a guardian at all times.

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The other programs planned for the Saturday morning storytelling series include: “Galveston’s Founding Fathers,” scheduled for Saturday, July 7 and “A Child’s Life,” scheduled for Saturday, August 4. “Galveston’s Founding Fathers” will feature well-known local actors portraying Samuel May Williams, Henry Rosenberg and other important characters central to the story of early 19th-century Galveston. “A Child’s Life” will explore what life for a 19th-century child in Galveston would have been like. Children’s lives from across the economic spectrum will be included.

The Samuel May William House, built in 1839, is the second oldest surviving house in Galveston. The house is a rare combination of Creole plantation and New England-vernacular architectural styles. Samuel May Williams, the man who had the house built, was the founder of the Texas Navy and secretary to Stephen F. Austin. The home’s notable architectural features include a winding staircase, roof-top cupola and a wide wraparound veranda.

The Williams House was built in winter 1839 on an outlot of the newly founded city of Galveston. Outlots were “suburban” homes on 20-acre lots, built by the elite of the city away from the bustle, smell and unsanitary conditions of town. The Williams house was purchased by Phillip Tucker, administer of the Williams estate, in 1859, and was occupied by the Tucker family until 1953. The house was purchased by the newly incorporated Galveston Historical Foundation in 1954 to save it from demolition. It has since been restored to illustrate family life in Galveston in the 1850s.