Starting in 1935, Robert Neal and Edgar Hellum began restoring dilapidated Cornish limestone homes in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Their efforts saved this 19th century lead mining town from certain extinction. Upon their retirement in 1970, the Wisconsin Historical Society began operating the restoration as a historic site interpreting the history of Cornish settlement in the US.

THE PATTERN AT PENDARVIS is a fictionalized look at the quiet life of Edgar Hellum, a man in his nineties who did pioneering work in historical preservation in a small, mid-western town. A man who just happened to be gay in an era long before Stonewall and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The play deals with contemporary gay identity issues through the eyes of a man who spent his life in the closet.

A new play by Dean Gray, directed by Joseph Megel. It is adapted and fictionalized from interviews conducted with Edgar Hellum in 1997 by Will Fellows as part of the research for his book A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture.