I can safely say we’ve learned the meaning of the phrase “When in eastern Ohio, do as the eastern Ohioans do” after a somewhat crazy road trip to nowhere. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Last weekend (Feb. 21 and 22) Megan and I traveled to Pittsburgh, Pa., to see an amazing performance by Topol in his farewell tour of Fiddler on the Roof. It’s continuing for a while, and if you can go, you should. A lot of the fun, though, came from getting there. The I-70/U.S. 40 corridor through middle eastern Ohio is one place neither of us has ever really been – together or separate. Sure, a drive through years ago, but nothing major.
When we left at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, we had decided to forgo planning any cemetery ventures in favor of beating the snow/ice/rain barreling down on Ohio. Then we got off to get gas after 9 AM in Cambridge, Ohio. Since Cambridge is set back from the freeway a little bit, we had to pass a cemetery to get to the gas station and it was all downhill (or uphill, maybe!) from there. After calling mom to look at a radar and confirm there was no longer bad weather breathing down our necks, it was a go.
The entrance to Mt. Calvary
Our first stop of the trip was Mt. Calvary Cemetery, on the corner of State Route 723 and U.S. 22/40 in Guernsey County (or exit 176 off of 70. You can only go north from there, so there’s no getting lost!). It was decently sized and well maintained and very much still active – and very Catholic. I gotta say, even as a Baptist (or maybe it’s being a Baptist . . . hmm), something about the large number of religious statues in Catholic cemeteries disturbs me. Granted, this opinion isn’t limited to those in cemeteries, but in this case, to each his own!
Where is my face??
There is a very beautiful stone here, though, of a woman weeping in front of a cross as she hid her face. It was very tall (at least five feet, maybe more) and a white that contrasted the surroundings. Whether it was a representation of the woman who had died finally meeting Jesus and bowing before him or a representation of those left behind, kneeling before the cross begging for relief from their grief (or praying the departed’s soul into heaven, perhaps). Either way, definitely worth seeing and hard to miss.
The road through the cemetery is basic (one square one around the outside, with two roads going from each side that meet in the middle) and each section isn’t very large so it’s easy to catch everything. According to Beth at GraveAddiction, there is a stone featuring St. Nicholas and the three boys he saved from being cooked, though we missed it (kind of contradicts my opening to this paragraph, eh? Maybe I should say that when it’s warmer it would be easier to not miss anything!). We did, however, see another white stone featuring a trio of figures that could be a child Jesus with his earthly parents. I can’t really think of any other signficant child-parent groupings in Scripture:
Jesus with Mary and Joseph?
If you ever do take a trip out to that part of the state, it’s definitely worth a stop since it’s so close to the freeway. There’s enough cemeteries in that area to make a trip worth it too! Our next post will feature our trip to Northwood Cemetery, actually in Cambridge.
