The resting place of loved ones and those we’ve never met. Tombstones, grass, the flowers left behind. Calm, peaceful, hardly anyone there. Ever visit one? Now or in the past? We’ve seen them in movies. Are they different in real life? Lanes, rows, trees. Picturesque or simple? Any linger or last?
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Not places I normally visit, and I would prefer to have my lifeless flesh recycled rather than buried or burnt, but I do have one memorable experience.
Some time ago we visited the Lily Dale Assembly, a Spiritualist community in Western New York. This place has what is said to be the oldest pet cemetery in the USA. The monuments ranged from large, professionally carved tombstones to tiny rocks with children’s handwritten on them,
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One of the cemeteries here has the grave of a history professor who has had a (small) pyramid built for her future death. She’s still alive as far as I know.
It’s right by the entrance, so you can see it whenever you drive by.
The entrance to the cemetery itself is quite impressive:
We also have an historic dog (with an unfortunate name) with a story related to the cemetery-
Also, for you U.S. history fans, Eugene Debs is buried there.
Edit: I forgot about Martin Sheets! He was interred with a telephone because he was terrified of being put in his crypt while still alive.
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Ah, I love a good cemetery, especially older ones. Funerary practices in general are really interesting, and you could say I have a professional interest.
I’ve got a picture of a tombstone from Malmesbury Abbey, but it’s hard to make out and not really worth sharing. It’s for a woman named Hannah Twynnoy, who was killed by a tiger at a pub in 1703. That Wikipedia page has a copy of the poem on the tombstone. Not the sort of thing you see every day.
Years ago I met an actual adult who was shocked that cemeteries might be forgotten about, built over, and dug up (in many periods the idea was to bury you until the worms did their job, then Smolken would dig you back up and put your bones away somewhere else). Not just modern cemeteries, the conversation started when I was telling him about some Bronze Age burials. I mean, this is England, where any back yard could be hiding a massive cemetery, so I have no idea how he thought that worked.
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I agree. I am especially interested in sky burials. If it were legal, that’s how I would like my remains disposed of.
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I love cemeteries! I don’t usually even think about the death aspect of it, I just appreciate them as a place where there’s more nature than there is traffic. There’s a large-ish one about a half mile from where I live, and I frequently walk there because of how peaceful it is. Lots of hills and flowering trees, and for a bit in the spring, every tree is a different color with all the flowers. It’s nice to see a place where peace is important, and the birds sing. Plus, there’s some really cool art on some of the stones that makes we wonder how carving practices have changed from when the place was started in, I think, the 1700s.
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I have no particular intrest in cemeteries, but I spend a lot of time searching for stuff in them.
When you retire, you are issued 3 hobbies - BBQ (and grilling), WWII (mostly submarines), and genealogy.
To that end I recommend to your attention-
Edit to add - In addition to grave info, they typically have a page dedicated to each cemetery as well.
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Find a Grave is how I discovered that I have a deceased relative with the first name of Adolf.
I always wondered how my father, who was both proud of his Judaism and obsessed with WWII, would react to that if he had known.
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A relative named Adolf? Probably not well.
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I’m not sure. He might have thought it was funny. I really don’t know how he would have taken it.
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Do I have cemetery photos? Of course I do!
Elvis is buried in back of Graceland, along with his parents, and his twin brother Jessie Caron Presley, who was sadly stillborn.
A rather picturesque tombstone from Manassas, Virgina
And I have been to all 3 St Louis Cemeteries in New Orleans.
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I’ve got a picture that’s an interesting bit of family history for me. My great grandparents on my dad’s side have a headstone in the DeSmet cemetery, just down the hill from the Ingalls plot. I got a picture when I was there a few years back, partly because I’m named after my great grandfather and partly to prove that I was there.
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Graceland is probably the memorial I most remember. It moved me. The Gold Records, the House, and particularly where Elvis was laid to rest.
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Of those, No. 3 is my favorite, despite being the newest… the two story mausoleum in the back gives a nice view of the fairgrounds and the skyline. My absolute favorite is St. Roch 1 & 2. I have a few family tombs to chose from when the time comes…
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