A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Cemeteries

Cemeteries are places where people can unlock the past

Checking out cemeteries can make you want to tell the story of so many people lost long ago.

Did you know, back many years, that cemeteries were often places of celebration?

People would picnic in cemeteries, or there would be small gatherings and such.

Way back when, cemeteries weren’t just places to mourn. They were places to celebrate. And that makes sense, when you consider that one can celebrate the lives lived by so many.

Alas, over time it seems like that’s become a bad thing.

Cemeteries used to be a place where people gathered, or walked … now it’s almost looked down upon if you do so.

If you do anything in cemeteries now, it’s almost looked down upon. Walking through a cemetery gets you looks. People often place geocaches in or near older cemeteries. It almost feels odd, though it shouldn’t. It gives people the chance to visit these old places.

As some of you know, I’m a member of a site called Find A Grave. It’s a massive database of cemeteries, headstones and listings from around the world. Many people request photos of long-lost family members or others for research. When that happens, people can be notified and have the chance to fill some of these requests.

But the other thing about this site is it gets me out and searching around cemeteries. There is so much history in these places. However, how many people are remembered.

With faded headstones or damaged ones, sometimes you have no idea who is buried there.

One plot I found the other day had one headstone. Several other people were buried there, without stones.

So many years pass by and these people are just part of the landscape. It’s something to stop and look at these headstones and wonder about the people below them. Who were they? What did they do? What was life like for them?

And sometimes, it’s sad.

I saw the headstone of Alexander. The reason this tiny headstone caught my eye was because it had some sort of an animal carved on top. Alexander, you see, was just over a year old when he died more than 100 years ago.

I don’t know if this grave was designed like this or if this is a headstone that was broke and deteriorated over time.

He never even had the chance in this world.

What happened? Was he sick? An accident? The reality is, we likely will never know.

His plot overlooks a bustling road now. It’s on the edge of a hill, so it sits there watching over things.

It’s part of the mystery many cemeteries have. And if you can get away from vandalism (which I’ve never understood where the thrill is in tipping or breaking a headstone), cemeteries really hold many mysteries. From the people buried there to so much more. Headstones can be remarkable to look at. And, sometimes, headstones can be faded or cracked away so much that one may never know who is in that spot.

The mysteries are there to be uncovered. It’s one of the great things about sites like Find A Grave. It brings to life so many people who have been gone for so long.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Days of Writing: Hanging out in the cemetery (16/30)

Cemeteries — especially old ones — can be amazing places for research, photography or other reasons. And all the while, you can pay respects to those who went before us.

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one is a little of everything! 

Cemeteries.

Many look at cemeteries as a sad place. One where many people who have passed through life are buried.

Did you know, back when, cemeteries were places of celebration? People would picnic in cemeteries and town events would be held there. And it’s how it should be. When you go to a cemetery, you can celebrate those who have already left us. Sure, it can be sad. But it can also be a good place — one where you remember the good times.

I was brought to this old cemetery through geocaching. It was an overgrown cemetery with some historical people and I never would have found it without the game.

But man cemeteries seemed to be long forgotten. The ones that aren’t active anymore and have the old and amazing tombstones. Hundreds of years have passed for some of these cemeteries and, unless they were famous, there are many people buried throughout the world who likely have nobody who visits their graves anymore.

I have a lot of hobbies in which I participate. One of them is based around cemeteries, the other sometimes involves cemeteries.

The first is with the website Find A Grave.

Many people use this site to help with research about family or whatever else. The site has a large database of cemeteries and photos. What I do, is when local cemeteries get requests for photos of graves, I like to try and get out and go get them for the people seeking the photos. It’s actually been a little while since I’ve done it as my other hobbies have distracted from this one.

But, I love this one because when you’re searching for the headstones, you can learn about things. You can see the stones and different aspects of the burial grounds.

My other hobby in which cemeteries sometimes appear is geocaching.

For those who don’t know, geocaching is a technology-based treasure hunt, using a GPS.

From Geocaching.com:

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

Geocachers will hide caches all over. In fact, there are nearly 1,800,000 active caches placed around the world. And there are more than 5 million geocachers playing the game.

But, back to cemeteries.

Cachers like to find old cemeteries and hide caches near them. Often, geocachers will do research about these long-forgotten cemeteries and take you there for a certain reason. Maybe because there’s people buried there who fought in the Revolutionary War. Or a famous athlete is buried there. Or someone else. I’ve learned a lot in cemeteries through geocaching and for that, I’m thankful.

Arlington National Cemetery is a place where you can lose yourself in the history and be moved by everything this cemetery stands for.

Finally, cemeteries can be some of the most powerful places to visit.

Take for example Arlington National Cemetery.

I don’t know how many of you have visited there, but during a trip to visit friends in Washington D.C. last year, I spent a combined six or so hours in Arlington National spaced out over two days. From the changing of the guard to staring at all the headstones, it was one of the moving things I’ve ever seen. To know how many of these people have given their life for the United States is something that, for those of us who are Americans, should be thankful for.

Cemeteries, though places where people are buried when life on Earth ends, are not places to be afraid of, rather places to remember and honor those who have gone.

Take a walk through a local old cemetery and look at the headstones. Even if it’s people you might not know, be related to or know anything about, you can still pay respects or at least look around and know that you might be one of the only people to see these names over a given time.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Remembering lost towns… and the people of them

Pepacton Cemetery

I recently went to find a new geocache placed in our area.

It was at an out-of-the-way cemetery near Andes. The cemetery didn’t have a lot of headstones, considering there appears to be more than 1,500 people buried here.

The final resting place is Pepacton Cemetery.

The story behind the cemetery is what is really interesting.

This cemetery is the resting place of many people who were moved from other cemeteries when the Pepacton and Cannonsville Reservoirs were creating, eliminating many small towns in Delaware County. The reservoirs supply water to New York City.

According to the book, “Lost Villages: historic driving tours in the Catskills” (out of print), some 23 cemeteries were eventually flooded to make the reservoirs. All of those bodies had to be moved before this could happen. The book said that family members were given two options — NYC would pay for the bodies to be buried in another cemetery or it would create a cemetery on its lands. This cemetery is apparently the one that was created as NYC does the upkeep on this cemetery.

The book notes that there were nearly 1,500 bodies moved from 13 cemeteries to this spot. That total includes unclaimed or unidentified remains.

It’s in a beautiful area on a back road. With the hills and mountains surrounding it and not far from the villages and towns that were eliminated when the reservoirs were made, it’s a tranquil spot for a final resting place. Wood markers line the main walk area, depicting the names of the towns that were destroyed for the reservoirs.

Markers note the towns where these bodies were originally buried.

Some of the people buried here are named on headstones. That’s what also brought me here — someone at Find A Grave had requested a photo from this cemetery for their genealogy research.

Some of the headstones were easy to read, some hard.

Here’s a couple of the headstones from the cemetery:

Husband and wife, buried side-by-side.

But, as the book noted, there were some whose remains were not identified.

I have a feeling that this headstone came with the bodies from an old cemetery, but it’s still always hard to see something like this. It’s a shame that these children were nameless when buried, as many people from that day and age might have been.

Unidentified children.

The cemetery is a peaceful spot. I don’t imagine many vehicles travel here daily, so it’s an out-of-the-way spot as an eternal resting place.

If you’ve had the chance to drive around these reservoirs, you’ve likely seen the brown signs that show where former towns used to be. These towns, destroyed by the need for these reservoirs, have slipped into history. It’s places like this that remind us of that history. If you see spots like this, take a moment to think back and realize that history can nearly be wiped out if people don’t remember. It’s not just the major historical dates we all have to remember, we also have to realize that a lot of “average Joes” went through a lot of things before us. Though maybe not remembered — family members had to deal with a serious situation.

Some of these cemeteries that were uprooted were small family cemeteries. It may have been in the family for generations, and people had to choose where to move their ancestors to. And, though it’s likely never to be proven or said, one has to wonder if they got every body before the dams were finished and the areas were flooded. Could there still be remains buried deep beneath the water and ground? Who knows. But it’s a possibility.

So take a second to remember small places like this. It’s as much a part of our past as major dates in history.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

If you hide it… tell me why I’m there

A Revolutionary War veteran buried in Prentiss Cemetery (New York)

There always seems to be a hot debate among geocachers about cemetery caches.

Some love ’em.

Some hate ’em.

Some are in the middle.

I’m one of those middle guys. I love the old, out-of-the-way cemeteries. You know, the ones that aren’t active (or not very active), on an old country road and have a boatload of history in them.

The active cemeteries, not so much as you never know when you’ll encounter a funeral, people pay respect etc. I’d rather avoid those.

But the old cemeteries… with all the history and everything else, they can be quite the interesting places to take people.

That being said, what seems to be a more recurring theme with cemetery hides is not telling me why I’m here. In my area and other areas I’ve traveled to and found these caches, I’ve noticed this theme. Though people seem to look around before hiding the cache, I’m left to wonder if it’s more than a cache hide.

I recently went on a cache outing with Peter and Judy — the Devil Duckies. We had a fun-filled afternoon of caching and we hit several cemetery caches. In each one, we spent a lot of time peeking around, looking at headstones and checking the historic significance of each place. In reality, the geocache was just an added bonus to the day.

However, the cache page didn’t mention the amazing things we found at two of the cemeteries — the burials of nearly 20 people who fought in the Revolutionary War. One of the cemeteries had more than a dozen buried in its hallowed grounds alone. This cemetery also had two World War I vets buried here and one from the Korean War.

In the other cemetery, there were six Revolutionary War vets buried there. They were spread out over the cemetery and it wasn’t easy to find them all. But they were there and I’m glad we walked around and looked at all the headstones. It really gave me an historic feel to the area.

This post, however, isn’t meant to call anyone out, so please don’t look at it that way. It’s not directed at anyone in particular, rather the who geocaching community when it comes to placing cemetery caches.

This is a trend I’ve seen throughout geocaching with cemetery caches I’ve visited. Often, the cache listing will note that the cache is near an old cemetery, it might point out something (such as old headstones) and will also stress that the cache is outside the boundaries of the cemetery (after all, caches aren’t supposed to be hidden in cemeteries).

Some people point out a few small things. Some people go in depth. Some people just mention the cache.

Old cemeteries usually house a lot of history. I don’t expect someone to look up details on the whole cemetery. But if you walk around the cemetery (as I hope most cache hiders would do), check things out. Find the relevant information. I would personally note if veterans from a war, such as the Revolutionary War, are buried in those grounds.

The Revolutionary War is a significant war in our history, seeing as, ya know, our country gained its freedom from it and all. So to know that these patriots are buried in these old, forgotten cemeteries is a great way to make sure people come not just to geocache, but to pay respects to our forefathers.

So this is a shout out to those who place and those who visit cemetery caches. Take the time to check everything out. And if there’s something significant, place it in the description or the log. Make those who come find the place realize where they are going. Remember, the game isn’t just about the numbers (though they are cool to have!), but about where the hider takes the finder. I appreciate places like this because it’s a walk through history. I just hope others take the same time to look around and realize where they are before zipping away for the next find.

You can see more of my photos from this day’s adventure at this Flickr set.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Out finding graves

It sounds morbid, I’m sure.

But it’s not — honest.

Have any of you been to or heard of the website Find A Grave? I’ve known about it for a long time, but it always seemed like a spot where one could go to see where famous people were buried etc. I even knew that “regular” people were listed on there, but I never dug much into the site. I had seen something several years ago about photo requests, but never thought much about it.

Then I was reading a recent entry by fellow geocacher Jim on his blog Thanks for the Hide. He noted that people can request photos and other people can fill those requests. It’s almost like a different type of scavenger hunt. Just this time, you are helping others with their genealogy research or someone who is looking to see a loved ones burial spot and headstone.

Now, let’s remember that I’m currently jobless, so I have some time on my hands. I spend quite a bit of time searching, applying for and seeking jobs. But that just can’t be for 10 hours a day. So I need to get out and do something so I don’t go stir crazy. Geocaching is fun, but there’s not a lot locally I don’t have. I love to go hiking and taking photos, but sometimes going on the same trails and such gets a little boring. Disc golf, as most of you know, is another thing I’ve been into, but there aren’t many courses too close by.

So, why not do something to help someone else?

I signed up for the website and got peeking around a little bit. It turns out that the main cemetery in my town had nearly 20 requests for photos. That sounded interesting. But, from there I had to figure out how the heck to find these graves.

Woodland Cemetery in Delhi is on several rolling hills and it’s not small.

So, what to do?

The key was finding the cemetery website. From there, I went to a section that shows a database of the people buried in the older section of the cemetery. Most of the people I would be looking for were buried in that section. Then it required talking to a couple of people on the board and finding a map of the old section.

Well, when they numbered sections and plots years ago, there wasn’t any organizational thoughts behind the number process. For example, you could have sections 1-20 in one spot, 21 on the opposite end of the cemetery and 22 back near 1-20.

I had a printout of the map in a smaller version, where you couldn’t see the numbers. So after we looked at the bigger map and all, it was just plotting the same spots.

Let me tell you this, too — when this map was made, the roads were slightly different than they are today it seems.

Still, after a couple of hours of walking around the cemetery, we had found the majority of the grave sites people were looking for. I have posted the photos on the website for 14 people, so hopefully it will help them with their genealogy research.

I’m not sure about the remaining people who have requests, but I’ll see what I can do. Until then, I have looked at many area cemeteries and I think I am going to start going through some of them and seeing if I can find the graves that people are working for.

The hardest part of going to different cemeteries will be trying to find where the people are buried without having to look at every single headstone. Some places are large, so it makes it harder. Further, some of the headstones are wearing down and if you don’t know the area where you need to look, you might be in a situation where you overlook the headstone.

But, I’ll be up for the challenge.

After all, it’s quite interesting going through some of these cemeteries and looking at the headstones from long ago. There’s a lot of history in these places and sometimes it gets forgotten.

Now, I’ll get the chance to uncover some things as well as help some people in their quest to see a headstone.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.