July 3, 2010

A Hot Day in Oak Dale

Posted by Megan-Marie under Champaign, Oak Dale Cemetery | Tags: , , , , , |
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I wanted to post something for the Fourth of July, but nothing would really come to mind. I was running some errands in Urbana, though, yesterday, and I decided to stop and look around Oak Dale Cemetery. I hoped to maybe find some veterans or something like that I could talk about, but as I was driving around trying to think of something, I was sidetracked by this older part of the cemetery I’ve never really been through before. The stones in this patch were so unique, I decided just to post about them and leave the patriotism implied (Yay, America!). So this is not exactly a Fourth of July post, but today isn’t exactly the Fourth of July, so . . . we’ll live with that, then!

Oak Dale Cemetery isn’t one I’ve posted about before. First of all, don’t confuse it with Oak Grove Cemetery of Kingscreek, Ohio. Oak Dale is actually in the town of Urbana, address 319 Patrick Avenue. It’s a convenient enough drive–if you’re headed south down 68, just turn left at the roundabout onto US 36 and make a right on Patrick Ave. The cemetery is on your left after the Burger King. It was founded in 1856 and is notable as being the burial place of Simon Kenton, among other local legends . . . these include founders and other favorites of my alma mater, Urbana University. Ironically enough, the area I selected for photos today because I had never paid much attention to it is the area spotlighted by Beth of GraveAddiction–you might want to check out her pictures as well. I’ve only picked out five stones to talk about here, so if you want to see the rest, check out the slideshow at Shutterfly.

Anyway, I parked and began to wander around. One thing I love about exploring cemeteries is that while standing there looking at one marker, I’ll see another and be drawn over; from there, I’ll see another, and on and on. By stone-hopping, I can cover so much area and not even realize I’ve done it. These are the stones I hopped from yesterday.

First, that of “Ann O.” She is identified as the “wife of Christopher Michael,” and she died on the 14th of December, 1858, at the age of 84–which means she was probably born on April 12, 1774. The elaborate carving on this stone make it really eye-catching. There is also semi-legible text at the bottom that says she was born somewhere in Frederick Co., MD, and something else that starts “our dear Mother has gone . . .”

From Ann O., I had to check out this bizarre table gravestone. I may or may not have been able to determine that it was the grave of a doctor, but I would’ve advised him that this was a really poor choice of monument. As you can see, it is held up on six legs–well, one has collapsed–and its flat face is full to the elements, which have pretty nearly blasted all the text off. When I was finally standing on the correct side of it, I was able to tell that there were words, but I lacked the patience to attempt reading them. He seems to have had a wife named Rosetta, which makes me laugh–this is the Rosetta stone! O:)

Hardly was I done snapping pictures of them, though, when I saw this peculiar little guy! This odd little pillared house is dedicated to one “Frank Fairchild,” with the inscription “Our Little Frank.” He died on the 19th of some month in 1859, and may have been a year old–there’s an annoying shadow over that bit. The style of the marker, though, is so unique, I was really fascinated and took any number of pictures of it.

Next, what to my wandering eye should appear . . . but a winged angel hanging out pretty near! So I headed over to check her out. This is apparently the stereotypical angel for cemetery markers, and I may one day make a whole collection of all the places I’ve seen her and post them at once. This time she graces the final resting place of one James W. Fulton and his wife Anna.

This last one I actually had to cross the road for but I found it was worth it. This is a very pretty take on the angel headstone motif and I actually find it very sad. Check out the slideshow for the full version; I just picked one angle for here. The tombstone is for Russell Bunnell, who died in 1892 at the age of five. The words written by the angel on the scroll read, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

All in all, a really lovely day at the Urbana cemetery . . . but I can’t even tell you how hot it was! Check out the slideshow, comment, blah-blah-blah, and enjoy your Fourth of July!!

 

November 20, 2009

It’s Like Woodstock, But With . . . Headstones

Posted by Megan-Marie under Champaign, Woodstock Cemetery | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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The Gate at Woodstock

I have apologies for you, if you’re interested. It is ironic that the Friday the 13th post did not come through, but I have a good reason for it. Not that it was Friday the 13 and this is one of the creepier monuments and biggest “WTF?” moments of all our headstoning experience, but because I got a new laptop computer! (“squee,” as the youngsters these day say, I think?) And last week, the files weren’t all transferred yet. So I didn’t have any pictures and it made it hard to work on this. I will give you more than I have been–our ulterior picture site is still in the works–but this cemetery ended up being so incredibly WTF that I can’t pass it up.

Woodstock is yet another tiny unincorporated settlement in northern Champaign County. It was an unplanned stop made by Lincoln’s funeral train, though, before it went through the aforementioned Cable and down to popular Urbana, Ohio. But to be perfectly frank with you . . . I am skipping directions for the time being because I don’t exactly remember how we got to the cemetery. It was pretty obvious, though, although definitely an awkward turn. We weren’t planning to get out because by this time we were getting kind of cold and tired, but as we drove along we began to exclaim, “What is that? WHAAAT is that?” And that which I am about to show you definitely deserved some face time. The following is what happens when your relative is an amateur scuptor and aspiring geneaologist and someone has told him he is really good at either. And yes. It has its own glass canopy. Hey, wouldn’t want all that “lovely” sculpting work to be marred by the elements, would we?

Creeptacular or just bizarre?

 This is the memorial of . . . well, about 50 people. The Cushman, Hewitt, and Gifford families are memorialized here with bas relief and statuesque forms of themselves done in, ah, cement. Apparently. Whatever this stuff is, it’s rough. Names are identified in marble strips or squares attached to the, um, main . . . structure, with epitaphs like “Grandma Cushman,” “Auntie Jackson,” and “Sister Lucy Hewitt,” and the far less informative “Scott” and “Charlotte.”

Instantly Recognizable . . . as People!

The marble plates at the top detail the entire life story and history of the Cushmans and their arrival to Ohio. But wait! There’s more! If you haven’t had enough of inexplicable statues, lists of names, and vaguely creep bas relief busts of people with indeterminate names, walk around behind the, ah, monument.

Roll of something . . .

Now, this is perhaps really inexplicable, as there is another tombstone dedicated to listing this selfsame roll of honor. But I guess he was out of Cushman history to put on there and really wanted this thing to have four fully covered sides. (Around the base of this thing, incidentally, apart from the names of the three families, are the names of wars I presume they were involved in, and that the sculptor wasn’t simply listing wars off the top of his head.) Nice Fedora on the guy in the bottom center, though.

Sister Lucy, oh the time has come . . .

Oh, yeah, I said “four sides.” In all, there are six larger-than-life sculptures flanking the ends, and sixteen of the little bust sculptures surrounding the bottom. Some of the large statues even deserve lengthy descriptors in marble. Now, while I agree this is a really clever way to combine cemetery memorialization and family history, unfortunately, this is . . . well, look, I’m going to be really honest about it, okay? This is really ugly. And not particularly well sculpted. Or whatever you do with cement. I would have chosen another medium, personally. And perhaps not weighted it down so much with some twenty-four, twenty-five people on it. But that’s what you get, you know. But enough suspense. Let’s meet our intrepid artist.

"Sculptor," eh?

"Sculptor," eh?

Ah, yes, the late great Warren S. Cushman! Huh? Who? Well, according to the very useful website AskArt, he was a native of Woodstock, Ohio, who remained chiefly in this area, lingering around Springfield and Urbana. The description also notes that he was “largely self taught” (you’re kidding! I never could have guessed) and that painting was his chief forte although he did embark on some photography. And that’s pretty much all of the description I can see without getting an account. But it does seem to indicate this man at least sold some paintings! I hope he was a good painter; the, uh, sculpture isn’t doing it for him. But it was nice of him to include a self-portrait on his tombstone. And whoever that is next to him–he got so carried away with the image, he forget to put a name on it anywhere. If you can’t see those dates, he was born in 1845 and died in 1926. Apparently he was “known for” monumental sculpture, but I hope this is the only example. (I’m sorry! If you think I’m being mean, I am really sorry, but this thing is darn ugly! Do you really think it isn’t?)

The rest of the Woodstock Cemetery is actually extremely pretty and worth a look. There is a historic marker memorializing Woodstock as a stop for the Lincoln Funeral Train, and the area is nice, rather well kempt, and sports some great views. The unique and unusual is also pretty standard stuff here, and for as many odd stones as there are, there are also some really pretty ones. Incidentally, some of the Cushmans have some more standard stones, and among these are some great examples of proper restoration very tastefully done.

How cute!

It's a Ball! For Kimball!
It’s a Ball! For Kimball!

 

 

November 6, 2009

The Cemetery That Wasn’t There

Posted by Megan-Marie under Cable Cemetery, Champaign | Tags: , , , , , |
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Cable Cemetery

Cable is in fact not a small town. It is a minute town. Well, even according to the Wikipedia, it’s not a town at all, it’s an “unincorporated community,” which I think categorically means you could whip through there at 50 MPH ’cause there’s no speed limit change. Basically what makes noteworthy is that there is a post office, a pizza place/convenience store, and a church. That’s about it. Apart from two dozen houses roughly clustered together. A quarter mile outside the cluster is also the Township Building for Wayne Twp., which is where we vote and they store the snowplows. Exciting, eh, Steve? Anyway, reports online persisted that there was a cemetery in Cable. In our industriousness, we didn’t bother to write down where in Cable, because we figured we knew, but it turns out, we knew nothing. After driving around and aimlessly searching, we finally decided to go through the “cluster” itself and suddenly thought, “Well, what if it’s by the church?” Well, it turns out it’s by the church.

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The Cable Cemetery is tucked up behind the only church in Cable, on the left side of a street that dead-ends into the parking lot. It is a small country churchyard, in every sense of the word. Kristine’s apt observation was that “there are more people in the cemetery than the town!”

I really liked these tombstones. They were very neat and tidy. The cemetry itself isn’t in bad shape at all, it’s just practically impossible to find. Unfortunately, my observations on the Cable Cemetery, which is quite small, neatly laid out, and commands a pleasant view of surrounding farmland . . . and also includes a playground . . . were colored by the fact that it was completely filled with mosquitoes hovering in literal clouds and it made it very difficult to pay attention to much or do anything but snap off a few pictures.

cha-cab-102609N4160There are actually 174 interments here, with the area’s typical following of Blues and Johnsons, but adding to it the Inskeeps, after whom, I presume, the main road in Cable is named. There are also a pair of Depps–presumably not related–and an impressive cluster of Bowers.

As I mentioned last week, I’m skimping in the picture department because of our being in the process of transferring over to a new medium, but hopefully we’ll be able to present that to you in full within the next few weeks.

 

October 30, 2009

Four Cemeteries

Posted by Megan-Marie under Champaign, Jenkins | Tags: , , , , , |
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So perhaps you noticed that nobody posted last Friday. Well, I didn’t, because I was in Athens, the well-known most cemeteried area in this great state. Or at least the most haunted. Unfortunately as I was there for a Shakespeare conference, I didn’t hit any cemeteries. But we did go to some on Monday evening. As the weather is beginning to grow decidedly unfriendly to cemetery pursuits, I’m not going to rush through the four that we checked out. Plus, we got a lot of great pictures for each, so they basically deserve more attention than a four-at-a-time approach. So this is basically cemetery number one plus previews, in order of visit.

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Jenkins in Autumn

So today, I’ll be taking you to Jenkins Cemetery, which is located on Yocum Road in Cable, Ohio. It is a beautifully mild autumnal day, and the Ohio sky boasts vivid blue. Ohio, as we all know, is populated enough with dinky little hidden cemeteries that odds are, if you throw a rock, it’ll bounce off a headstone (it helps to be aiming at the headstone and have good eye-hand coordination). The Cable area was necessarily one of our first areas of forray into the world of headstoning, as this particular headstone lives here (don’t bother trying to stalk me; the Cable area is massive). It’s a beautiful area with many narrow, hilly, winding roads, all belying Champaign County’s status as champaign (French, flat). This is all probably largely the result of the Cable Moraine, an area created by leftover glacial debris. So, I was talking about cemeteries!

Jenkins Cemetery has mostly been (erroniously) referred to as the “Yocum Road Cemetery” by us for the last few years, and in spite of early visits in 2004 (it was one of our inaugural cemeteries!), we didn’t have any pictures before this visit. However, I find it a beautiful cemetery of decent size. It is presumably associated with the church that it is nestled up and pretty cozy with.

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The road in the cemetery

Now, it is actually a decent-sized cemetery for a largely-family-oriented church graveyard in the middle of nowhere. Literally in the middle of nowhere; this one is almost impossible for us to find even though we’ve been there like three times. You can park in the church lot, and there is only one road that goes around the cemetery. It is clean, nicely spaced, and seems well-maintained in spite of the massive sea of fallen leaves there on our visit. It’s October. Can you blame it?

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Three Jenkinses

Typical last names are Blue (presumably somehow related to the local Blue Rd.), Black (of Black Rd. fame, no doubt); Yocum (of Yocum Rd., perhaps?), and the eponymous Jenkins (there is no Jenkins Road locally, however). Three Jenkinses are buried beneath this beautiful monument, dedicated to the memories of “Kittie” (wife of R. P. Jenkins), who died in 1886, and her two daughters, Wretha and Ada, who both died in 1892. One of the prettiest cemetery statues ever.

While this is really the only statue in the place, there are some unique and interesting gravestones worth seeing, including a pair of apparently homemade gravestones with cursive inscriptions. One of my favorites, belonging to a Willard Decker, ominiously threatens on the back of his tombstone to be “waiting for you in heaven.” In very tiny, rather creepy letters.

You may notice I’m giving you much fewer pictures about this cemetery, but this is because we are getting ready to move all our photos over to a new site, and I’m keeping things uncluttered here until we have an idea of how things are going to work there. (Keep tuned for that–btw–Kristine will have more info. The new site promises to display pictures much better than WordPress lets us. Sorry WP.)

A Zinc tombstone

A zinc headstone

Another eclectic addition to the cemetery is this very small zinc headstone, which includes a long flat marker, also zinc, with the name that lays over the actual grave. It is one of the smaller zinc headstones I have ever seen, and is thus kind of impressive.

Actually that’s all I can think of to say for the moment about Jenkins cemetery. It was a fine warm day for cemetery hopping and that may be coloring my affection for the place, or not. Like I said, stay tuned for the picture update, because there will be more.

Also for you to look forward to: The elusive and nearly invisible Cable Cemetery (on November 6), the bizarre monuments of Woodstock Cemetery (on Friday the 13th, appropriately), and the unlovely Broderick Cemetery (November 20)–our first venture into exotic Union County! See, aren’t I a good little blogger, posting when I say I will? Every Friday! Take note! Tell your friends! Also coming up for your reading enjoyment, the Headstoners’ first visit inside historic Green Lawn Abbey, established 1927. So be here for that!

 

September 18, 2009

Just Friends

Posted by Megan-Marie under Champaign, Mt. Caramel Friends | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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So last Thursday was weird. I lost some work in the closing minutes of work and then was deeply distracted and had to lug a big heavy book back to my truck I hadn’t been planning on. So I ended up not feeling like retracing my steps and biking back along the path the way I usually do. I started to drive home, but the weather was so nice, I felt incredibly guilty about it, with the weather so nice and all. So I ended up deciding by the time I got home that I would attempt something I’m not going to do again anytime in the rest of my life.

A really long time ago, back when I was a teenager with energy, a friend of mine and I biked down the road I live on about two miles to a particular intersection. Just a few yards from this intersection is the entrance to one of the cemeteries I pass every day when I go to work. I keep meaning to go in there, and yesterday I thought, “Hey, nice day, it’s only about two miles, I know there’s some hills, but I’ve done it once before, it can’t be that bad.” Ha bloody ha ha. Did I mention I live in the Himalayan Mountains? I didn’t think I did, but now I know better. It took about an hour to go the two or three miles that is because I had to get off and walk about five times from the hills. I was so exhausted when I finally got to the cemetery that I thought someone might as well dig me a hole and put me in it. So appreciate these pictures.

Mt. Caramel Cemetery--The Gate

Mt. Caramel Cemetery--The Gate

 Mt. Caramel Cemetery is associated, I assume, with the Mt. Caramel Friends Church which is located immediately across the street from it. It was established in 1833.

It’s located on CR-130. The nearest settlement is a little burg known as Kennard. To get to the cemetery, say you’re driving north on US-68 (toward Bellefontaine). You’ll want to turn right on Herr Rd. When you reach the intersection of Herr and Clark–conveniently the location of Hell Cemetery–keep going straight. You are now on CR-130. It twists and turns a lot, but stay on it. You will need to turn left on CR-223, which merges with 130 for awhile; turn right on 130 to stay on it (which will briefly turn into Champaign St.) The cemetery is on the right side of the road. Hey, I never said it wasn’t remote. Remember what I said about living in the Himalayas? (more…)

 

January 5, 2009

I Keep Doing Dumb Things

Posted by Megan-Marie under Champaign, Kingscreek Methodist | Tags: , , , , |
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cha-kin-1220091499Today, still moving away from Green Lawn, however briefly, I’d like to tell you guys a ghost story! Well, it is my department. I wouldn’t want to disappoint my fans. So here’s a little ghost story about Clark Road in Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio.

Once upon a time, there was a guy, and even though his name was not Jack (I don’t think), he built a house – a beautiful house in the country where he intended to live with his wife and children. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before ;-) Or just go watch The Haunting.

Anyway, while he was building the house or shortly after finishing it, his wife and children died in a train accident. En route? I don’t know–if they were, that really smacks of The Haunting, so I’m inclined to say forget that thread. Who was he? Did he really exist? At the moment, I don’t know, but I promise the Headstoners will return to this topic to let you know the truth on the subject. Right now, the truth is off-topic. What’s on topic is the house that the guy who wasn’t Jack built.

Hell House

Hell House

Satan's Piggies

Satan's Piggies

After the death of his wife and children, the builder of the house set his work on fire and hanged himself from the oak tree in his front yard. However, though he died, the house itself mysteriously did not burn down. It exhibited charring, and yet continued to stand for an indeterminate amount of time. That wasn’t the place’s only mystery–website lore maintained that the suicide’s body could be seen, occasionally, at night, hanging from a branch of the tree that hung over the road, though by the time my fellow headstoner and I made it there to see, the tree had no branches hanging over the road. The house itself was not actually abandoned and appeared to be in use . . . as a barn. A few cute little pigs came out to greet us when we drove by, but we didn’t stay long enough to figure out who might belong to them. Who the heck uses a haunted/abandoned house for a barn?! (There was a cow hanging around, too.)

Still, that was in 2005. Today, Hell House no longer exists, having been demolished by its owners who apparently decided to invest in a proper barn. However, our Clark Road explorations revealed something that we may not have have discovered otherwise: a place we rather fondly nicknamed Hell Cemetery in honor of Hell House. (more…)

 

December 31, 2008

End of the Year Twofer

Posted by Megan-Marie under Champaign, Logan, Mt. Tabor, Piatt Family Cemetery | Tags: , , , , |
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A lot of intelligent people, when they got off of work and it’s 20 degrees out, they would just go home, get off their feet, out of those shoes that make the whole side of their foot burn with an ungodly pain, but . . . I’m not those people.
So instead, you’ve got this post. What did I do after I got off of work today, for which I am still paying? I went to two cemeteries! My mother would not approve of it, ’cause I was out there without a coat on, and it was very cold! However, I didn’t want to miss the perfect afternoon light. So here’s the day’s take.

Last Day of DecemberCemetery 1: Piatt Family Graveyard, West Liberty, Ohio.

Well, as it will probably become apparent to some people, I work at the Piatt Castles [1] [2]. We’re open for the holiday season up until the fourth. So today as I was driving home, I noticed that the afternoon light was particularly alluring, and as I have to drive past the cemetery, anyway, I might as well stop in for a few shots.

My first visit to the private graveyard was in August. As is suggested by “private,” this is a plot for members of the Piatt family, and it is located on what used to be part of their farm. Before I went up the first time, I thought that the two main crypts, one for Abram Sanders Piatt and the other for Donn Piatt; this one also is the resting place of their parents, Benjamin and Elizabeth, as well as his wives Ella and Louise.

However, when I first went back, I was surprised by there being so many graves. In actually, there are more than 20 burials there. And today, without the foliage bordering it, I realized that there are even more buried back in the trees and bushes. I learned a couple of things doing that. First of all, my work clothes are not appropriate for getting through briars. Actually, that was basically what I learned. But I got some fantastic shots. (See the bottom of the post for more.) 

Mt. Tabor in Winter

Cemetery 2: Mt. Tabor Methodist Cemetery.

The light was really too much to pass up, so, even though I was frozen stiff, I nipped in for a few shots off before I completely dissolved in the face of the wind and ran off home.

Mt. Tabor is a country cemetery situated not far from Ohio Caverns. The last time I went was four years ago, though not much has changed since then. It’s a rather extensive cemetery, considering, and has a wonderful view of surrounding farmland. One of its more interesting and unique features, apart from the largely-deserted church that I have only ever seen in use once in eleven years, is the presence of steel tombstones. Over the last decade of driving back and forth by this cemetery, I have witnessed the struggles the caretakers have had with a particular iron obelisk, which cannot stand upright and is currently held steady by a series of wires and winches. 

I really have nothing else to say about Mt. Tabor . . . oh, one more incredible feature I have not seen elsewhere is a sort of grave covering, also made out of iron, which has a sort of “lid” which can be removed, presumably to plant flowers. “Oh, gross” was the reaction I had on our first visit. I still think it’s creepy.

That’s it for the commentary. Click for photos.  (more…)

 

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