December 29, 2008

Happy Birthday–And a Quickie

Posted by Megan-Marie under Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , |
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There are plenty of topics I could cover, but since I feel like this blog is turning into a Green Lawn fest, I’ll save Chapel Stories for another day. (Incidentally, Green Lawn is our official unofficial alma mater, so it is appropriate for us to discuss it a lot, but I’ll give it a break for once. I will touch on it just a teensy bit, though.)

First of all–and I’ll keep my Green Lawn reference brief–today would have been my great-grandfather’s 121st birthday, and somehow that just boggles my mind. There is a precident for people who have lived to be even 122. To think that I might easily have been able to of met my great-grandfather in my life just kind of amazes me–particularly since I’m one of those people who has only one grandparent alive today–most of them, along with my great-grandparents, went decades before I was born.

Anyway, he’s on my list of favorite dead relatives, very high on that list, and definitely the one I’m the most obsessed with. His parents came over from Germany, he spelled his name in an unusual way, and within five years of his wife running off with the electrician, he and his brother died together in a gasoline fire. So here’s to my Grandpa Mathew, who died a little too early for me to meet him, but still deserves notice on his birthday.

Mathew Miller

mathew_ohio_deaths_1908-1953

In otherwise-ness, I’ve forgotten my topic. Oh, there it is. Yes, I would like to just have quick little outburst about something cemetery-related but not exactly. It’s about post-mortem photography. That’s right, folks, I took it there. (more…)

 

December 22, 2008

How I Started

Posted by Megan-Marie under Franklin, Uncategorized | Tags: , , |
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I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Which is basically notable as being home to one of the best cemeteries of the Midwest: Green Lawn Cemetery, est. 1848. It’s also a splendidly large one, boasting 150,000 interments on 360 acres [1] [2].

Columbus in the Background

I grew up in a Columbus suburb, and my dad was an avid birdwatcher. So, on nice days, my sister would troop out to Green Lawn with my parents and spend an afternoon entertaining ourselves while Dad went scouting whatever bird was on the list that week. Invariably, we parked near the lake next to the Wolfe Family Plot, where my sister would attempt to get me to look into the windows of tombs and then scare me after I had done so. One particular hobby of mine was cleaning markers off and leaving offerings of clover blossoms and dandelions.

Of course I was aware of the fact that I had relatives buried here. My father’s mother, Mawmaw, died before I turned seven, and I attended her funeral there with the family; my mother’s dad died before I was born, but I had a vague notion that he was there, too, along with some other shadowy personages I understood to be “the German grandparents” (actually my great-great grandparents on my mother’s side). But we didn’t really ever go to visit them and genealogy wasn’t as high on my list at age nine as chasing gophers was.
For a long time, my visitation of cemeteries kind of fell off. But then in 2003, something sparked it again–maybe it was reading ghost stories on websites like Forgotten Ohio. But then I began to visit again–and look on websites to find more to visit. And suddenly everything cemetery was interesting. This sparked an intense fascination with genealogy and a quest to locate all of my relatives buried there in Green Lawn, leading to me spending a great many weekends not only there but also in other cemeteries.
I’m super excited about this website because it’s finally a real chance to share stories about some of the great cemetery adventures Kristine and I have gone on in the last five years–including our recent summer quest while working on our book Grounds & Grounds — which is a topic for another day!
So bookmark us and stick around. Death’s about to get really, really interesting roundabout here real soon!
 

December 21, 2008

I don’t know where to start

Posted by Kristine under Gallia, Uncategorized | Tags: , |
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My title pretty much sums it all up. If I’d been to a cemetery recently, I’d just jump into that, but I haven’t. If I had a favorite cemetery, I’d just jump into that, but it’s too hard to choose. If I remembered how I got into cemeteries, I’d just jump into that, but I don’t.

However, I am excited that we’re finally getting our cemetery adventures together. Starting way back in 2004, we tried to build a website that would do justice to our travels, but it just never worked (read: we’re lazy). A blog, though, that we can handle.

Now I’m really excited about the stories and pictures we’re going to share eventually that range from 2003 to the future. All of them are from Ohio, and to make your journey through the  blog a little easier, all of our categories are the different counties the cemeteries lie in. We’ll try to tag them with the specific names and even the cities they are in if possible. If there’s something we could do to make it easier, let us know. This is a learning experience and we’re definitely open to reader participation.

For now, it’s my bedtime, and I will leave you with just a preview of what’s to come.

Overlooking the Ohio River at Mound Hill Cemetery

Overlooking the Ohio River at Mound Hill Cemetery

 

December 21, 2008

Taphophiles Welcome

Posted by Headstoner under Uncategorized | Tags: , , |
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Green Lawn Geese

Green Lawn Geese

Do you belong on this blog?

If you have ever walked across an uneven terrain of a sporatically-trimmed lawn, speckled with carved stones from centuries-past, and looked up at the trees above and listened to the singing birds and thought, “I have never seen anything more beautiful than this,” then . . . maybe.

Modern cemeteries are more gardens than just simple boneyards, as a quick perusal of a few cemetery homepages will reveal. Cemeteries are also noted birding hotspots, probably because of this garden-archetecture popular in recent centuries. Rare birds flock to the relative quitetude of these (often very large) solitary spots, as do the twitchers chasing them.
However, if either of these are the only reasons for which you enjoy an afternoon in a churchyard, then, frankly, this isn’t really the blog for you. You may enjoy some of the pictures and stories, but I’ll be fair and warn you now that it’s not going to be your thing.
This will be your thing if you are a card-carrying taphophile. What is a taphophile? It’s not a species of infant frog, if that’s what you’re thinking. From the Wikipedia:
Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.
Taphophilia involves epitaphs, gravestone rubbings, photography, art, and history of (famous) deaths. An example of an individual’s expression of taphophilia is the character Harold in the movie Harold and Maude (1971).
Taphophilia should not be confused with necrophilia, which is a sexual attraction to corpses.
That last part is particulary important. Taphophiles are not creepy and weird even if we do spend every weekend chilling in the local cemetery or driving out to visit a new one. So, card-carrying taphophiles, carry your card with pride and bookmark this site! If you aren’t a taphophile yet but think you could be . . . stick around and let us convert you!
Your membership card

Your membership card

 

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