Past: Halloween Storytelling

Make sure to stop at Bollinger Mill State Historic Site in Burfordville for Halloween Storytelling Friday, October 16th at 7:00 p.m. Missouri State Parks will sponsor this free event featuring professional storyteller Marilyn Kinsella. Please bring a lawn chair for seating. Refreshments provided after the storytelling.

"Storytelling is the embodiment of the wisdom, stories and experiences of my family, teachers, and storytellers. When inspired, these pieces come together to create a new story or workshop. My gift to others is the use of my stories and workshop ideas to take, reshape…call it their own…and pass it along. " Marilyn A. Kinsella

Since 1981, Marilyn Kinsella from Fairview Heights, IL, has been telling stories. She started while teaching school in the Metro-St. Louis area. Her collection of stories has grown from a handful to hundreds of stories include: personal experiences, folk tales, literary stories and historical tales. Her style has been described as "animated." She uses "word imaging" to color enhance the story.

For 16 years she worked as the storyteller at the Edwardsville Public Library where she honed her skill as a storyteller and puppeteer. After her retirement in 2002, she has worked as a full-time, freelance professional storyteller. She now travels extensively telling her stories. Her main area for telling includes the St. Louis area and the Southern Illinois region, but she has been known to tell stories "to the four corners."

Bollinger Mill State Historic Site is the site of a Civil War-era mill where visitors can learn how corn and wheat were ground into meal and flour by water power, just as it was done long ago. Burfordville Covered Bridge, the oldest of the four remaining covered bridges in the state, was built in 1858 and stretches 140 feet across the Whitewater River, which powers the mill. To get to the historic site, take Highway 34 to Highway OO to Highway HH in Cape Girardeau County.

Bollinger Mill State Historic Site is located at 113 Bollinger Mill Road in Burfordville. For more information, contact the site at 573-243-4591. For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.