On Saturday, the Osceola Library System hosted “Women’s History From Beyond” at St. Cloud’s Mount Peace Cemetery. The program gave participants a front-row seat to discovering the history of early St. Cloud women settlers buried within the town’s oldest graveyard.
Participants gathered at the cemetery on Saturday morning to begin their adventure with Michelle Mosley, creator of “The Walking Library” series, and Larisa Roderick, the local historian facilitating and presenting the stories of the women of St. Cloud. A funeral was underway that same morning for a veteran whose family produced proof of ownership for their plot 91 years after its purchase. It had been many years since a funeral was held on the historical side of the cemetery, so the spirit of the past was already in the air to greet the program’s participants.
Subjects discussed included women who were homemakers, entrepreneurs, women of color, and women who made history within St. Cloud. One of them, Emma Eulalie Clark Woods Raymond, became the first woman to be elected city commissioner in the state of Florida. Roderick utilized their stories to paint participants a picture of what it was like to be a woman in early St. Cloud.
“It might be the men who built St. Cloud, but it was the women who civilized it and made it livable,” she said.
This program is part of the “Walking Library” series, which takes the knowledge contained within the walls of the library and connects it with the community, in the community. For more unique immersive and educational experiences within the “Walking Library” series, check out the Library’s online calendar at www.osceolalibrary.org.
