Thursday, May 9, 2024
During a regularly scheduled city council meeting on Sept. 19, Tammy Dooley, Director of the Granbury Convention and Visitor Centers Bureau, announced that the VIP (Visitor Information Professional) group of Visit Granbury has created a new interactive program for the community.
The VIP group took the initiative to act as famous Granbury residents and let the community learn about those members of the town’s past on Granbury’s historic trolley.
The group is led by Dan Vanderberg who plays Tom Mullins, who was the Hood County Sherrif from 1914 to 1918.
“It is another way we can make Granbury truly unique,” Dan Vandenberg said.
“This is something that as a visitor you will be surprised all of a sudden, you’re walking around the square or riding along the trolley, and a character from the history of Granbury steps on. They have invested countless hours of training into their character. This is something they’re doing to benefit the community and the tourism efforts here in Granbury,” Dooley said during the city council meeting.
Other characters include: David Lee Nutt, owner of the Nutt House Hotel, his wife, Sudie Nutt, and Lizzy Nutt, who was the wife to Jessie Nutt - a blind county clerk; Abel W. Landers, who was a judge; Nellie Robertson, who was the first judge of Hood County and created the first county government; Andy C. Aston, who was a saloon and saddlery owner; Fannie Bond Yates, whose family built the first cabin on Lamber Branch; Emma Eames, who was a professional singer with the Opera House; John St. Helen, who was a famous bartender; Martha Stingfellow, who owned and operated the first boarding house in Granbury; and Lucy Cogdell, who was the wife of the bank president, Daniel Cogdell.
“That is truly a unique experience that our folks will be able to enjoy because of these folks getting creative and practicing their art. This is a form of art we really hadn’t discovered,” City Manager Chris Coffman said during the meeting.
Historical Ambassadors will begin making appearances on Oct. 7. You will see them stepping on the trolley during its regular routes on Friday through Sunday and on the square. There are no scheduled times, but flexible “pop-up” appearances and mostly on Saturday afternoons. The program is weather dependent and will be rolled out over the next few months.
