June 23, 2016
 

Medora Summer Programs Include History Alive! and “Recollections of Murder and Mayhem”

MEDORA –The Marquise de Mores (Medora) will appear at the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site the weekends of July 2-3 and July 16-17 in the popular History Alive! program. Portrayed by Karen Nelson, this program will center on Madame de Mores’s return to Medora in 1903. Visitors meet Madame in a brief retrospective on her time in western Dakota as well as her life following her return to France. 

The French aristocrat and cattle baron the Marquis de Mores will take center stage the weekend of July 9-10. Portrayed by Lance Rustand, the Marquis will share his dreams of a beef empire in the frontier town of Medora in the 1880s.
 
A.T. Packard, the editor of the Bad Lands Cow Boy, will be featured the weekend of July 23-24. Portrayed by Donald Ehli, Packard will discuss his life as the editor of the newspaper from 1884-86.
 
Friedrich Felix Gollnick, an adventurous 19th century immigrant from Germany to Dakota Territory, will make an appearance the weekend of July 30-31. Portrayed by Donald Ehli, Gollnick will describe his colorful life, including stints as a buffalo hunter, homesteader, and employee of the Marquis de Mores.
 
All History Alive! performances will be on the veranda of the Chateau at 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. (MT). The free History Alive! programs explore the lives and times of decades gone by, combining theater arts with history. The 20-minute monologues are based on original letters, diaries and other documents, many from the archives of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

The popular “Recollections of Murder and Mayhem in Medora” performances are at 11:30 a.m. (MDT) Saturdays and Sundays through the summer in the Billings County Courthouse Museum, 475 Fourth St., Medora. Visitors enjoy the ambience of an 1880s courtroom while learning about the Marquis de Mores’s trial for murder in 1885. The fifteen-minute drama presents the involvement of the Marquis in an 1883 shoot-out west of Medora through the recollections of outlaw hunter Frank O’Donald (Doug Ellison), newspaper editor A. T. Packard (Don Ehli), and saloon owner Miss Jewel (Karen Nelson). Admission is $7 for adults, $3 for children ages 6-15, and free for children age 5 and under.

The Chateau de Mores site and Interpretive Center near Medora is open daily, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (MT). For more information, contact the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site at 701.623.4355. Find out about additional upcoming educational programs sponsored by the State Historical Society of North Dakota at history.nd.gov/events or call 701.328.2666.

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CONTACT
Samuel Kerr, 701.623.4355

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