Walking in Graveyards

I have always enjoyed walking through graveyards - reading epitaphs and enjoying the beauty of the carvings.

Part of my family lore was about 'Decoration Day' - my Grandmother could never quite get it through her head that Memorial Day was for fallen troops not for every human who had ever died. It was fortunate for me, though. Because of her persistence on the issue, she would send my Grandfather off to the cemetery with flowers. He often took me with him. Yes, he placed the flowers my Grandmother sent him with, but he also took a box of flags and would walk through the cemetery and place the flags on the graves of any of the veterans. He would talk to me about America and about patriotism and about respect. He would talk to me about death and dying. And, oh how I wish I could remember all of the rich family stories he shared. My Grandfather was a simple man, but he had a deep understanding about many things, simply put, Grandpa was a wise man, and I was blessed to spend these days with him.

In addition to giving me good, quality time with a man I loved dearly, it also taught me about the calm and the peacefulness of cemeteries. It taught me about the richness of history to be found in such quiet and unassuming places.

Recently, I found a way to combine my appreciation of cemeteries with doing something useful. I have been transcribing cemetery records and putting them up on genealogy sites. This site will be about my days spent in cemeteries, observations and thoughts, and the cemeteries and gravestones themselves.

I hope you enjoy your visit here.