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Butcher wins national fellowship for protecting and teaching local history
David Butcher is well known around Athens County for his work in local history — especially his own family’s place in the area’s past, from his ancestor’s mixed-race marriage to his uncle’s career in journalism. Those stories are the centerpiece of his People of Color Museum. Now, his efforts have gained wider recognition. Butcher recently…
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Berry Hotel’s history of Black entrepreneurship informs new play
The new play Hotel Berry highlights the lives and accomplishments of Edward and Martha “Mattie” Berry, whose eponymous hotel was a Court Street landmark for more than a century. The Berry Hotel began as an ice cream shop and later restaurant the Berrys operated on a lot Edward bought in 1880 for $1,300. In 1893,…
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‘Hotel Berry’ production celebrates local history of Black social entrepreneurship, empowers Black theater creatives
The upcoming theatrical production Hotel Berry, opening November 17, explores an integral part of Athens and Southeast Ohio’s Black history: the famed Berry Hotel and the couple who created and ran it, Edward and Martha “Mattie” Berry. The play, commissioned by Ohio University’s Tantrum Theater, focuses on the Berrys and on Eliza Davison and Andrew…
