Cemetery Tours Return June 13 With ‘Circus Twist’

POTTSTOWN PA – The fifth in a series of walking tours, which feature storytellers and costumed re-enactors who relate tales of personalities at rest in Edgewood Historic Cemetery on East High Street, is scheduled for mid-June. Tickets for “The Traveling Circus Tours” are available now for purchase online.

The three identical small-group tours offer a “circus twist.” They spotlight a notable Depression-era connection between the cemetery and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. One story includes a glimpse into the life of a professional animal trainer buried at Edgewood.

Tour guests also will “meet” Vaudeville performers William Gracey and his wife, Lydia Irwin “Eliza” Fleming Gracey; Josephine DeMott, also known as “The Circus Lady;” and Elizabeth Maisse (Prizer) Banghart, Edgewood’s oldest resident, who passed at 105 years young.

The tours will be held on one day only, June 13 (2026; Saturday), at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. respectively. Walk-in registrations will be accepted if space permits, but advance reservations are strongly encouraged. Be warned: earlier tours have sold out before their presentation dates. A rain date of June 14 (Sunday) has been set if needed.

Online ticket orders can be placed for specific presentation times: 1 p.m. tickets here; 2 p.m. tickets here, and 3 p.m. here. Tickets cost $20 per person, and $10 each for students. The price includes light refreshments. Seating is available at each stop along the tour.

Stories Shaped by Extensive Research

Cemetery volunteer and tour author Kelly Fenstermacher has conducted extensive research into many of the more than 4,500 interments on Edgewood’s 12 acres. Stories “of the fascinating people who shaped our history are at risk of being forgotten and lost forever,” she says. “But with our town’s support, we can preserve and share them” through the cemetery’s tours,” Fenstermacher adds.

This event is a fund-raiser that supports the cemetery’s grounds maintenance fund, and its approximately $25,000 in annual mowing fees. It also benefits its Adopt-a-Gravestone program, to restore fallen headstones. All care is provided through donations; no funds are contributed by borough government.

Thanks to volunteer efforts, Pottstown residents are increasingly able to enjoy the grounds as a peaceful place to walk, run, and enjoy a pollinator garden maintained by the Hearts for Humanity non-profit in Pottstown. Individuals who would like to assist with this or future tours can send an e-mail to Fenstermacher at kelly@historicedgewood.com, or call or send a text message to 610-506-7033.

The Cemetery Friends organization welcomes fund-raisers orchestrated by other organizations, as well as volunteers for its annual spring and fall clean-up programs. For more information on them, send an e-mail to ajmonastra@gmail.com. Contributions to the maintenance fund may be made to Historic Edgewood Cemetery, and mailed to 740 E. High St., Pottstown PA 19464. Online donations also are accepted.

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