By Natalie Townsend
Published in The Williamson County Sun August 31, 2014
Walking around the Square, passersby perceive all the evidence of a modernized town–restaurants, bars, clothing boutiques, a courthouse. When Mickie Ross crosses downtown on her way to The Williamson Museum, she sees history.
“History surrounds us,” said Ms. Ross, executive director of the museum. “It’s who we are, especially in a community like Georgtown. You can’t walk down the street without being attacked by it. You’re walking on the streets where the people who built this community walked.”
When Ms. Ross is on the Square, these spirits walk with her. “Mr. Georgetown,” also known as Emzy Taylor, is one of her notable haunts. After the Civil War, Mr. Taylor took over his father’s shop on the Square and helped build Georgetown by starting a volunteer fire department, the first public garden, the first national bank and more. His former house, which six generations of the Taylor family have called home, is three blocks from the Square.
Passing the courthouse, Ms. Ross recalls Georgetown suffragette Jessie Daniel Ames, who inspired 3,000 women to vote in a span of two weeks after women got the right to vote in 1918.
“We couldn’t get 3,000 women in Williamson County to register in the next two weeks–and we can do it online,” said Ms. Ross, who is wife of Mayor Dale Ross. “Every time I walk up those steps, I think about those women and the power of that.”
Ms. Ross also remembers Dan Moody, an attorney who successfully prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan and later was elected governor. “That was a trial of national importance,” Ms. Ross said. “We made it into The New York Times the next day.”
The Williamson Museum hopes to inspire others to explore and appreciate the county’s unique history. Like similar facilities in major metropolitan areas, the museum collects artifacts, but “we are not your grandmother’s history museum,” Ms. Ross said.
With a staff of four, The WIlliamson Museum offers more programming than the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin and the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio, Ms. Ross said. Events such as Chisholm Trail Days afford participants a unique glimpse into history with hands-on stations where visitors can churn butter, ride in a covered wagon, card cotton, view longhorns and more. Programs like Voices of the Past, where volunteers dress up as historical characters and play the part, give life to the names in textbooks. Past characters have included pioneers such as John and Hannah Berry, the family after which Berry Creek and Berry Springs are named.
“Do you know that [John Berry] repaired Davy Crockett’s rifle on the way to the Alamo?” Ms. Ross asked.
The Berrys had 18 children, three of whom fought in the Texas Revolution. Two sons were part of the 1843 Black Bean Episode. Santa Anna ordered that every 10th man in a group of 176 captured Texas soldiers be executed. A pot filled with 159 white beans and 17 black beans would determine who lived and who died. Neither of the Berrys’ sons drew a black bean, although one died on the trip home.
The re-enactors’ costumes for the program are expensive. Some cost thousands of dollars, Ms. Ross said. Seeds of Strength donated $3,000 to the Williamson Museum for Voices from the Past to help pay for costumes, supplies and materials.
“These people that dress as characters engage the public,” Ms. Ross said. “They give people a chance to experience history. You come in here and unless you’re a kid, you’ll have to read to learn the history. But costumed characters who portray these people allow you to engage and experience it and make it fun.”