Students from Angling Road Elementary in Portage and Sam Adams Middle School in Cassopolis will each present their version of the Cass County Underground Railroad “Wax Museum” at the historic James E. Bonine House on Penn Road and M-60 in Vandalia.

The Portage students will present on Tuesday, June 3 from 10:30 a.m. to noon and will focus on Cass County UGRR figures as well as those throughout Michigan and beyond.

The Cassopolis group will present on Friday, June 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. and include additional local figures, with many students playing their actual ancestors.

Stacey Bonine and Colette Konkle’s fourth-grade class from Angling Road Elementary in Portage will be at the Bonine House on June 3. Stacey is a descendent of Lot Bonine, brother of James E., who built the Bonine House. Felomina Patton, fifth grade teacher at Sam Adams Elementary school in Cassopolis, brings fourth, fifth and sixth grade students to the Bonine House on Friday, June 13.

Students have researched characters from the Underground Railroad and have chosen one to portray as a “wax” figure. They have written a one-minute script describing their character and will be in period costume. Groups of students will be stationed in various rooms of the Bonine House waiting for visitors to press a “button” on their hand to hear about different groups of people associated with the Underground Railroad.

Groups will focus on the stories of Freedom Seekers, the Kentucky Raid, Quaker Abolitionists, original African American families, women abolitionists, rural schools, African American Civil War soldiers from Cass County, connecting UGRR lines in the area and the effects of the Slave Laws.

The UGRR “Wax Museum” is deisgned to appeal to all ages, even young children. The community is invited and learn about the history of the Underground Railroad in Cass County and beyond.