Lewiston Council on the Arts receives state grant
for Underground Railroad Center

Lewiston Porter Sentinel, August 26, 2006

Documentary filmmaker Steven Powell of Odessa Pictures is wrapping up production on a dramatic video re-enactment depicting tales of Lewiston’s role in the Underground Railroad.

Launched by the Lewiston Council on the Arts, and titled “Josiah’s Crossing,” the video depicts the story of local tailor and abolitionist Josiah Tryon and a runaway slave played by Emmy award-winning cinematographer Adonis Dawkins. Scenes were filmed in the Village Cemetery and the cellars at the site of the original ‘Tryon’s Folly,” an 1800’s mansion on the lower Niagara River, purportedly a safe house for slaves en route to Canada. Dramatic footage was also filmed in the Niagara River using a replica of an 1850’s era rowboat.

The video was co-produced with Donald Dietrich with features narration by Buffalo actor and film producer Addison Henderson. The project is funded in part with an UGRR Heritage Trail Grant from New York state and designates the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University a UGRR Regional Interpretive Center.

The grant, totaling $79,500, funds a permanent exhibition, a portable companion exhibition and an interactive kiosk detailing the extraordinary role our region played in the UGRR. The regional partnership created to establish the Interpretive Center includes the LCA, the Castellani Art Museum, the McClew Interpretive Center at Murphy Orchards, Niagara Movement Foundation, Black Pioneers of Niagara, Michigan Street Baptist Church, the Freedom Trail Festival and the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation.

“Josiah’s Crossing” was also supported by funding from the New York State Council on the Arts through the 2006 Video Regrant Program. In Niagara County, the Tonawandas’ Council on the Arts/Carnegie Center administers the regrant program.

The current project is just one of several history related programs the LCA has presented over the last 10 years. The Marble Orchard Walking Tours, Seaway Trail Historic Walking Tours, “The Niagara Movement: A Centennial Celebration” and concerts by the Hampton University Concert Choir featuring the music of black composer R. Nathaniel Dett have all provided opportunities to tell the story of Lewiston’s rich heritage and its pivotal role in local history.

Official opening of the Interpretive Center is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m., at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University. The public is welcome to attend.

”We are honored to have been included in this NY State initiative to promote heritage tourism while helping to preserve and interpret our fascinating local history," said Eva Nicklas, artistic director of the Lewiston Council on the Arts.