Cemeteries - Calm Atmosphere in Big Cities

As a life-long genealogist, it is difficult to impossible to simply drive or walk by a cemetery without entering for a walking or driving tour.

Many of my favorite memories of visits to large cities involve the scenes, smells and quiet that I enjoyed in her cemeteries.  How could anyone ignore these oasis of calm amid the hubbub?

I don’t know who took this photo of the Calvary Cemetery in New York, but it represents the feelings I’m trying to express.

Do yourself a favor this spring.  Visit a cemetery just for the calming ambiance and the stories of lives and places represented on the headstones.

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Cemetery with a Mountain View

The Lehi City Cemetery in Utah offers scenic views of mountains in three directions.  It continues to grow in acreage of grass and trees.

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Civil War–Preparing For Burial

So many soldiers died in battle during the Civil War, that relatively few of their bodies were embalmed before shipment home or being buried near the battlefield.

However, there were morticians and embalming stations near the front lines to address these duties in many cases.

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The Dead of Gettysburg

The terrible Civil War Battle of Gettysburg resulted in over 3200 dead.  Hundreds were never buried or identified.

Confederate Dead at Gettysburg

 

Union Dead at Gettysburg

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Headstones Hate Teenage City Employees

While taking photos of tombstones to post on Find-a-grave, I'm finding a LOT of old tombstones that have been damaged or broken off by teenagers driving city-owned lawnmowers. The damage is appalling.

The stone I’d seen in the fall now looked like this:

 

By mid-December the surviving top half of the 120-old-stone  had been “replanted” by city employees.

 

Quickly scanning my photos, I found many more examples of wanton destruction by the “summer teens” that had been hired to mow the lawns in the city cemetery.

 

Shaved edges

 

Not just shaved but gouged

 

Even the top corner was broken

 

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Chernobyl Equipment Graveyard

The mechanical, aerial and vehicular equipment used in the Chernobyl rescue and evacuation all became thoroughly radioactive.  Much of it was parked in a mechanical graveyard.

See it on Google Maps here.

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U. S. Cemetery–Normandy

Rows of markers in the U.S. Cemetery – Colleville-sur-Mer, Calvados, Normandy, France.

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