Video: Choral Society Gets Special Performance of Columbus Pilgrimage Favorite

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – A group of visitors got a special preview of a Columbus Pilgrimage favorite. On Friday, students from the Mississippi School for Math and Science treated visiting members of the Columbus Choral Society to an early performance of “Tales From the Crypt” at Friendship Cemetery.

The Choral Society, Starkville Symphony , and composer John Purifoy  present a special performance of Purifoy’s work “Chronicles of Blue and Gray” March 28th.

The highlight of the cemetery tour was the “Decoration Day Ladies” performance, an event that served as the inspiration for part of the “Chronicles of Blue and Grey”. On one of the first “Decoration Day” observances after The Civil War, a group of ladies from Columbus decided to honor not only the Confederate dead at Friendship Cemetery, but also the fallen Union soldiers. The action was seen as a sign of healing the scars of the war. It was celebrated in a popular poem of the time “The Blue and the Gray”, and is credited with being the inspiration of the national Memorial Day holiday.

This year’s public “Tales From the Crypt” tours begin Wednesday April 8th.