AVERY CHENOWETH spent childhood summers on a front porch in Tennessee, where adults would say, over pitchers of martinis as fans slowly turned, “If you listen carefully, you may learn something.”
He’s still learning. Now 60, Mr. Chenoweth, with a 65-year-old partner, recently started a business called Here’s My Story, whose gaming app brings history alive through location-based role-playing.
It works with Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, where users participate in the lives of historical figures. Slaves, soldiers and nurses are depicted through an interactive process that takes the oral storytelling of Mr. Chenoweth’s childhood beyond the front porch.
Image: Originally a novelist, Avery Chenoweth had a major heart attack that left him too fatigued to write. He had to look elsewhere to pay the bills. Credit Khue Bui for The New York Times
