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!

 

October 16, 2009

The View from Donn Piatt’s Tomb

Posted by Megan-Marie under Logan, Piatt Family Cemetery | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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The titular view on a stunning autumn day.

The titular view on a stunning autumn day.

I’m actually surprised to realize that I’ve never posted about the Piatts before, apart from the one where I combined it with a quick visit to Mt. Tabor. Mostly I’m surprised because I am a bit of an afficianado of all things Piatt. Why? Because I work there. At the Piatt Castles, that is. www.piattcastles.org. Come on by sometime ;)

Like most people, I feel a certain affinity for Donn Piatt. I don’t know why most people do and I cringe to be a cliché, but, well, I like him. One of my favorite locations is up on top of his crypt. There’s a great view of the valley, and it’s very quiet and peaceful. As far as climbing up on a mausoleum is concerned, well, as I told my (non-headstoner) friend the first time I did it, “If he didn’t want people climbing up here, he shouldn’t have put a poem up there.” (It’s illegible. But I’ll get to that.)

The Piatt family are, at present, chiefly of note because of the two houses, the eponymous Piatt Castles, Mac-A-Cheek and Mac-O-Chee, which are about a mile and a half apart outside of scenic West Liberty, Ohio. A lot of the houses in this area, at one time or another, were owned by a Piatt at some point. Abram Piatt had a number of kids, and it is his descendants now who own the Castles and maintain them.

Of course the business that concerns me today is the cemetery, which is a favorite of mine judging by frequency of visit alone. Working in the house that someone lived in while they were alive definitely makes one feel a lot closer to the person or persons interred; I’ve stood in either house and tried to imagine knowing the people who lived there, I’ve stood at the tomb and tried to imagine Donn and Abram as boys playing in the valley, as men coming up to the cemetery to bury their loved ones, and the funeral procession bringing them to their final resting place.

Colonel Donn Piatt's Tomb

Colonel Donn Piatt's Tomb

Donn Piatt’s tomb, like his house, is the more ornate and noticable of the two. It was constructed first, and is the final resting place not only of Donn, but of his and Abram’s parents, Benjamin and Elizabeth, of his son Charles, and of his two wives, Louisa and Ella. Donn’s life was filled with a lot of tragedy: he and Louisa were totally in love with each other; they were both writers and they traveled a great deal. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with “consumption” (not necessarily tuberculoses), and all through the Civil War struggled with bad health. Mac-O-Chee castle was originally a cottage he built for her so she could come out to the country where rest and fresh air might heal her; but she died two weeks after the cottage was finished. They’d had two children, the son Charles, who died at age 2 from cholera, and a stillborn daughter. The medallion atop the tomb features Louisa’s profile; on the verso is a grieving poem Donn wrote for her. (more…)

 

October 9, 2009

Son of Hatchetman

Posted by Megan-Marie under Harrod, Logan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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So back in January when I was working on our exposé on the Hatchetman Murders, I discovered to my chagrin that I had never taken pictures of the tombstone of Henry Hellman, old Andy’s son. Recently, we went back there and did that, and I thought, well, hey, might as well put something together that reviews the cemetery itself in official Headstoner style. So I’m back on it.

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As I described in my final Hatchetman post, “Harrod Cemetery is of a decent size, was established in 1898, though it has graves dating from before then, and is still in use. Some graves go back into the trees, but I don’t recommend poking around because the cemetery is fiercely bordered by poison ivy. It is well-maintained . . . Common last names include the eponymous ‘Harrod,’ as well as ‘Abel’ and ‘Oder.’ There is only one road through the cemetery, with two exits (or entrances, or one exit and one entrance), and the side closest to the twp. road is where the more modern burials are/continue to take place.”

It is one of the early Headstoner cemeteries, to be sure, and a lot of our research on the Andrew Hellman case influenced us in the founding of this website and our Headstoning cause of, well, you know, Headstoning (vb. To go from cemetery to cemetery to look at headstones). We go there a lot, frequently to kill time, or just as often to eat pickanick style. So I got to thinking that Herrod deserves a more thorough writeup of its own merits apart from the presence of the urban legendary Andrew “Hatchetman” Hellman.
log-har-Jun202009-HenryBut before we move away from the Hellmans entirely, I would like to dedicate a moment to dear Henry, dear Henry. Henry Hellman is one of my favorite dead guys. My surprise that I had previously never taken a picture of his tombstone before was partially fueled by the fact that it’s one of the neatest. His name (there’s a closeup in the gallery at the end) is all cool and wavy.

Just to recap the story briefly, Henry managed to escape the fate of his brother and sister (if, indeed, they were poisoned; Andrew repeatedly denied that he had murdered his children, but Henry himself asserted that poison was involved in his siblings’ deaths). The day his father killed his mother, Mrs. Hellman had sent him to her brother’s house (one of the Abels in the area), and this was how he avoided that fate as well. Check out my other posts on the Hellmans if you want more of the story. There’s a really fascinating anecdote about the young Henry (age 12, as I recall) being brought to the jail to see his father. Just because I don’t want to do the whole thing a third time, I’ll sum up with Henry living a good, full life, having married and had a daughter. On to the rest of the cemetery!
(more…)

 

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…)

 

August 28, 2009

Equality

Posted by Megan-Marie under Equality, Logan | Tags: , , , , , , |
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A society that puts equality… ahead of freedom will end up with neither. — Milton Friedman, US economist (1912-2006)

Maybe that quotation doesn’t have much to do with the day’s topic–an ironic statement that will become clear as I go along–but I really liked it and therefore I posted it.

Well, here it is, Friday. Friday, as we know, is cemetery day. I know we’ve been skipping lately, but–I’m lazy. Having noticed the giant spike in views earlier this week, though, has given me a sense of responsibility, and therefore I post. (Bookmark us. Make us your homepage. Come back often. Danke.) Now, I have been contemplating the fact that I drive by three cemeteries on my way to work and I’ve never even gone in one. I’ve been thinking about remedying that fact, but recognizing that we have a backlog still, I decided to come in and do a post on one of the neatest cemeteries we’ve been to. “Neat” is a good word to describe it–it’s tidy, organized, well-kept, and interesting. It’s also fitting to follow the, shall I coint it, “restoration FAIL” of the last post, because here’s a cemetery doing restoration right. I’m talking about . . .

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EQUALITY CEMETERY, Logan County, Ohio.
Because everybody’s equally dead when they die. (more…)

 

March 26, 2009

Coming Back

Posted by Megan-Marie under Bellefontaine City Cemetery, Logan | Tags: , , , , , , |
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Well, spring has finally arrived, and you know what that means–the Headstoners are getting back at it! We celebrated the advent of spring in style at the Bellefontaine City Cemetery in Logan County:

So there you have it, folks: spring is in the cemetery, and that means that the Headstoners are going to be back on track. We do have a backlog, though, so in the next few weeks, you’ll be seeing pictures from the last few weeks, including–

  • The end of the Topoloicious trip (including a magnificantly inaccessible and haunted cemetery in Belmont County and a brand new National Cemetery in Pennsylvania)
  • Return to Day Cemetery in Logan County
  • A lovely, well-kept, and neatly organized cemetery called Equality in Logan County
  • And finally, a cemetery so bent on restoration that they’re destroying their own headstones

See you in the next few weeks, and enjoy your bubbles!

 

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