October 19, 2022
Bringing history to life: Hunter-Dawson interpreter honored for excellence
NEW MADRID, Mo - Growing up in Southeast Missouri, Matthew Davis always enjoyed history. The son of Faydreia and Gary Davis of Cooter, he would often watch the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. Other times he would read a book from his father’s Civil War collection...
By Jill Bock/Standard Democrat
NEW MADRID, Mo - Growing up in Southeast Missouri, Matthew Davis always enjoyed history.
The son of Faydreia and Gary Davis of Cooter, he would often watch the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. Other times he would read a book from his father’s Civil War collection.
When it came time to choose his major at Southeast Missouri State, Davis debated between history and historic preservation.
“Historic preservation seemed like the one to go into. It seemed like it was more hands on,” Davis recalled.
Apparently it was the right choice. Recently Davis was presented with the Masterpiece Award by the Missouri State Parks. The award recognizes his outstanding service and excellence in interpretation.
In 2013, Davis began an internship at the Hunter-Dawson Home, located on Highway U in New Madrid. After his internship, he stayed as a seasonal employee for nearly five years, then in July 2018 was brought on full-time as an interpretive resource specialist.
He described his job as diverse, challenging at times and fun.
“If I am sitting in the office doing work and I start getting bored with that, I think I can go over and clean the mansion or I can research 1860s clothing. Then a tour walks in and it is oh yes, I get to talk to people. So I am always able to do something different. The diversity is definitely a plus,” he said.
Of all the tasks that make up his day, Davis said giving tours is his favorite.
Laughing, he explained: “Basically I get paid to talk. That is pretty cool.”
Davis said he tries to get across to those touring the site that the families who lived at the Hunter-Dawson House are similar to the people of today. They worked, they enjoyed spending time together and faced challenges of everyday life. He also notes that although in 1860 the family was considered wealthy, they didn’t have many of the things most people take for granted today, such as electricity and running water.
One of the main things he points out to visitors is the furniture in the Hunter-Dawson Home is original to the house.
“it is like a time capsule to be able to see how they lived in the 1860s,” Davis said. “I love teaching them about the house and having discussions about history.”
He admits to sometimes going “off the rails,” especially in response to questions from those on the tour. But those questions, he continued, enable him to tailor the discussion to the interests of those taking part in the tour.
Davis said he especially enjoys providing tours for visitors arriving from the many riverboats that now include New Madrid as a stop.
“They are so excited to be here and that is when we get to meet people from all over the world - there are people from England, Australia and different places,” he said.
With the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, those tours came to an end. Part of the Masterpiece Award presented to Davis recognized his efforts when the Hunter-Dawson Home was closed by the pandemic.
During those months, Davis and site administrator Vicki Jackson began looking at ways they could continue to reach people to educate them about life in the 1860s and the role played by the Hunter-Dawson families. Together they created and edited videos for Facebook providing tours of the various rooms and even hosted a virtual Children’s Day with activities youngsters could try at home.
Davis described making the videos each week as nerve-racking. He admits to trying to ensure ever detail is perfect, often resulting in multiple takes to create a video. Also he missed not having feedback from an audience.
The shutdown also enabled Jackson, Davis and maintenance director Jeff Williamson to complete numerous projects at the site. Davis said he and Jackson learned to wallpaper and wallpapered three rooms. They learned about creating a floor cloth, designing and making one for the house. Davis even tackled faux graining which was used throughout the house when it was constructed
Jackson said any idea she proposed, Davis quickly was on board. When she had doubts about a project, he would assure her they could tackle it.
According to Davis, learning new things and talking with people are perks of the job. He also cited being able to work for the state and residents of New Madrid. The very best part, however, are the people he works with.
“We get along really well,” he added. “We make a good team.”
Jackson described Davis as incredibly personable and knowledgeable.
“The people who say they don’t like history probably had a history class that was just memorizing dates. which is boring. But history is the story of how we came be,” she said. “With Matt, people leave feeling that they have got a personalized tour. We consistently gets feed back on the comment cards that say Matthew was the best tour guide they ever had.”
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