With cooler evening temperatures and colorful falling leaves, Meridian’s historic Rose Hill Cemetery is beckoning for community residents to come out this Saturday evening for the annual Rose Hill Cemetery Costumed Tour.

The annual tour, presented by the Rose Hill Company of Players, will be held from 6-8 p.m. at the cemetery, located at the intersection of Seventh Street and 40th Avenue across from Calvary Baptist Church.

The one-day-a-year event is not a haunted tour, so don’t expect spirits or tales from the crypt, but rather an informative tour that offers interesting histories of the cemetery and people who are buried there.

“A lot of the people who are buried at Rose Hill, some of the founders of the city, worked hard and they died young sometimes. They were dedicated to the Meridian area, so we need to know their stories,” said Anne McKee, one of the organizers of the annual event.

The Rose Hill tour is free, though donations are accepted, and open to the public, she said. It is suitable for all ages, and a food truck will be present offering concessions

“The weather is looking pretty good, so we are expecting a good turnout,” McKee said.

Tours will begin at 6 p.m. and run until 8 p.m. Tours are given on a first-come, first-serve basis, so McKee suggests visitors arrive early because the walk-through can last up to an hour. She recommends wearing comfortable walking shoes and bringing a flashlight.

This year will mark the 17th anniversary for the costumed tour, McKee said.

During the tour, the Rose Hill players speak in first person, recounting the time period in which they lived and the story about their lives, family and contribution to Meridian history.

Among the stories told on this year’s tour include stories of Mrs. Smith, who passed away in 1906 and requested to be buried in her wedding dress; the city’s founders, John T. Ball and Lewis A. Ragsdale, who allegedly argued over the name of Meridian and how the city blocks should be laid out; Jessie Smith Sheehan Truly, the mother of American fighter pilot and NASA administrator Richard Truly; George Wilberforce Soulé, founder of Soulé Steam Feed Works; Nebraska Read, the only woman listed as buried in the cemetery’s Confederate mound section; Virginia Shackleford, whose husband Dr. Lee Shackleford died in 1878 during the yellow fever epidemic; Walton Moore Sr., one of the earliest railroad workers to come to Meridian; and Emil and Kelly Mitchell, a former king and queen of the Romani, wandering travelers more commonly referred to gypsies.