CULTURAL LIFE
Theater The isolation of Washington County meant that the residents were dependent mainly on themselves for any form of "high culture"—music, theater, literature. Fine arts would have to be generated largely in Dixie. If there were to be drama, it could not come from outside. No railroad would bring a troupe; roads were so bad that few bards would wander by. Either Dixie would be a cultural desert or the people would have to create a life of enlightenment themselves. In St. George, theater productions quickly became an expression of cultural life. A core of devotees grew into the St. George Dramatic Association, including Miles Park Romney, Charles Lowell Walker, Joseph Orton, Sarah Clark, Mary Romney, R. C. Lund, E. G. Woolley, B. A. Burgon, and many others. Regular productions began in the Bowery and moved to the St. George Hall as soon as it was completed in late 1863. The players preferred the basement of the tabernacle after it became available. Then they shifted to the winery and its 1875 addition, the Social Hall. 164
