Is it weird to tour cemeteries?

[elperromagico]

Poll question: Is it weird to tour cemeteries?

I went to Mt. Holly Cemetery this weekend. It's the oldest cemetery in Arkansas, and is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Many former governors and political leaders are buried there.

Weird? No? Let's discuss...

Poll result (64 votes)
Yes. Fuckin' weirdo.	(3 votes, 5%)	Vote
No. That's cool.	(58 votes, 91%)	Vote
Me want cake.	(3 votes, 5%)	Vote

[flamingyouth]

1. No - I love it

In fact, I try to look up interesting cemeteries whenever I have spare time in a city.

For my money, Chicago has the best (Graceland and Rosehill, with Mt. Carmel and Resurrection coming in as runners-up).

I've even been to Bachelor's Grove there.

[elperromagico]

5. Ever seen Resurrection Mary? n/t

[flamingyouth]

6. No, but believe it or not, I've spent hours on Archer Ave. hoping to

[elperromagico]

9. I have no problem believing that.

If I'm ever up near Chicago, you'd better believe I'll go looking for her. Of course, I'll bring friends... which means I probably won't see her (she prefers men driving alone, as you probably know).

[flamingyouth]

12. I know, so I figured that as a woman

I was at a disadvantage there.

[theorist]

2. Many great ones in Charleston, SC, too. n/t

[SCDem]

39. When I saw the question that was what I thought too

I love walking downtown Charleston and from King St to the Battery and take a little side ally and you can end up in a cemetary.

[MADem]

3. CSPAN occasionally re-runs

...their video tour of presidential gravesites. It's rather interesting, in an odd way.

Hey, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. All a part of life!

[Jack Schitt]

4. No.

I do that too. I'm interested in the vast history of our small-town cemetery, with people who died back before the Civil War.

[puddycat]

10. hey Jack--have you seen this flash movie?

Just a bit of extra humor for you, about possible relatives:

http://home.pacbell.net/diana_do/knowjack.htm

[Jack Schitt]

19. Haha.

Yes, I did see it. That's what inspired me to use this screen name.

[NoPasaran]

7. I don'tthink it's weird

I'm a real sucker for stopping at cemeteries out in the middle of nowhere with a historical marker by them.

[puddycat]

8. I've taken organized tours of cemetaries

interesting historical information and great sculptures, especially if you like angels. Oh, and don't forget rubbings (never did it myself though). Then there are always the interesting epitaphs. Then of course if you are superstitious there's the added benefit of wondering who is following you around.

[T Bone]

16. The large cemeteries do have GOOD organized tours

You can learn a lot. The large one here has the most Vice Presidents of any in the US, and John Dillinger. Coincidence? Maybe not.

[miss_kitty]

18. "The large one here..." Where is 'here'? eom

[ISUGRADIA]

11. No, not unless one starts digging looking for souveneirs 8 )

Lakeview cemetary is a few blocks south of me here in Minneapolis. Wellstone and Hubert Humphrey are buried there along with other notable Minnesotans. Some very cool late 19th century monuments there too.

[DELUSIONAL]

13. Reason -- historical info found in cemeteries, Anthro info

Genealogy -- missing info might be on grave stone.

Visiting a cemetery can be a step back into history.

European cemeteries are often the most interesting -- age of tombstones and some graves are used -- the old bones just tossed out of the hole along with the dirt and the fresh body reburied with the old bones.

[demodonkey]

14. The 1889 Johnstown PA Flood Cemetery (Grandview) is beautiful.

They have a monument with over 700 stones for the unidentified dead, as well as the typical Victorian sentimental huge overblow tributes to the well-off who died. The epitaphs on some stones are very touching.

One of the worst "natural" disasters in US History with over 2200 killed (really caused by a bunch of millionaires not maintaining a faulty dam, but hey, who's counting...)

[miss_kitty]

20. we used to get American Heritage magazine

when it was hard cover. That was one of the most memorable articles about the flood.

[frylock]

15. it's one of my favorite hobbies..

I love taking B&W photographs of old cemetaries, gravestones, and tombs. Of course, I'm kinda weird.

[miss_kitty]

17. no. I grew up near a cemetary

we used to cut through it going to school and jump on the metal headstones. We'd read the baby headstones, and try to find the youngest and oldest people. We had smoking camps in the big trees.

When I was in NOLA, I went to St Roch cemetary (in the 6th ward, I think) and in England I went to the one Marx is buried in.

Also there is a bitchin' cemetary a mile away I used to walk to that Bruce and Brandon Lee are buried in. And a lot of Seattle pioneers are there too. and there is a little Civil War veterans burial plot just north of that.

Cemetaries are cool. Before parks were public, that's where people picnicked

[progmom]

21. I was going to say yes...

...and then realized that I recently made a pilgramage to Charlie Parker's grave in Kansas City (great jazz saxophonist, in case you're not aware) in September, and have gone out of my way when traveling in Europe to see where Mozart, Galileo, Dante, and many more were burried. So I guess that's a resounding no from me. Or maybe a yes, but that means I am weird too.

[RoyGBiv]

22. Not at all ...

If you're ever in Mississippi, go to the Brice's Crossroads battlefield -- just a blip on the highway, but there's a cemetery at the crossroads that is positively haunting.

[WMliberal]

23. you aren't looking for body parts to use are you

Dr. Frankenstein?

If you are, don't take the brain named "Abby Normal"

Galvanism freak right here ya'll

[DBoon]

24. I love the dead!

Frank Zappa is interred in the same cemetery as Marilyn Monroe, except while Marilyn has a clearly marked crypt, ole Frank is just on an unmarked piece of ground. You have to ask the staff there where he is.

The cemetery is in Westwood, right by a movie theater...

[Dastard Stepchild]

25. Just got back from New Orleans...

great cemetaries!!

[DemBones DemBones]

26. Not as long as they're interesting cemeteries!

Anyway, the dead won't hurt you, it's the living you need to keep an eye on.

Most famous burial sites I've visited:

the tomb of St. Francis, which is in the crypt under the basilica in Assisi

the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, various Medici, etc., in Florence

the alleged graves of Arthur and Guinevere in Glastonbury, England

the St. Louis cemeteries in New Orleans -- best time to go there is late October, when families are whitewashing the tombs and putting out pots of chryanthemums beside them in preparation for All Souls Day (Nov. 2)

the Pali cemetery on Oahu, where war correspondent Ernie Pyle is buried

[elperromagico]

27. Cemeteries!!! Cemeteries!!!

[skygazer]

28. Not at all

I love cemeteries. Especially old ones. I grew up in New England where there are many little family plots surrounded by a stone wall and filled with old slate stones with neat epitaphs and cool carvings on them. They're some of my favorite places and I go there for solitude and peace.

[kick-ass-bob]

29. There is a lot of history in cemeteries...

why whould that be weird?

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. I do it too. I think it's good for a number of reasons:

1) Wondering about the lives of the people buried there continues to let them have meaning even now.

2) It is a good way to keep the past in our sight.

3) Acknowledging our mortality helps us to keep what is happening in our lives in perspective.


I think ** should take a daily spin around Arlington.

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[Left Is Write]

33. Agreed.

My oldest daughter thinks it's "creepy" that I like to take quiet walks in the cemetary, but I think it's fitting and right to remember the lives of those who went before us, and I always wonder about the lives of the people buried there.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Hard, though, to see the stones for the young ones. :^(

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[Left Is Write]

38. That's true. (nt)

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

31. Mmmm, cake.

[redsoxliberal]

32. Weirdo... or at least I wouldn't do it...

whay you do on your own time is your business...

[Kellanved]

34. not at all

I do that frequently, visiting the memorials for great minds and persons.

Theodor Fontane, Marlene Dietrich, Willy Brandt, Helmut Newton, the Adlons, Berthold Brecht, Heinrich Mann. Rosa Luxenburg,...

[bleedingheart]

35. Beaufort ,North Carolina...really cool cemetary

they even have a tour guide so you can read about the people buried there ...includes a ship wreck.

I love the old gravestone inscriptions..

[Shoeempress]

37. Not at all. Coolest cemetery , Pere Lachaise in Paris. Jim Morrison

is buried there, but they are going to or already have disinterred him cuz so many folks went to see his grave, and they claim, damaged the other graves. Very 1st place we went when we got to Paris, and I am so glad. It also was incredibly beautiful. Lots of famous folks besides Jim, Gertrude Stein & Alice Toklas, Oscar Wilde,(coolest headstone ever) Edith Piaf, Pissaro.

[Mist]

40. Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta

is pretty cool. Designed in the 19th C., when Victorian death cult was at it's height. Oakland was designed as a cemetery/park--visit the relatives' plot then have a picnic. Very Edward Gorey-ish with all the angels, urns, mausoleums, etc. One of the owners of the Atlanta Journal has a mausoleum with a statue of himself in an armchair by the side of the mausoleum. For years a daily paper was delivered to the statue!

[DelawareValleyDem]

41. Only if you're

planning on moving in soon.

[Kat45]

42. Not at all. Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, old cemetery

with a number of well-known people buried there, has tours all the time. It is a beautiful place with all kinds of trees and flowers, many labelled by species. It's also a popular site for birders because it is a bird migratory stop. There are always a good number of people there: walking, taking photos, watching birds, sketching. Several of my relatives are buried there as well.

[yellowdogintexas]

43. Great cemetery tours in Savannah Ga

and Key West Fl
dont forget those amazing Civil War Battleground cemeteries, the mother of them all is in Vicksburg Ms...

It is an amazing place.

[terrya]

44. No. In fact, if I were to visit Paris, I'd want to visit Pere Lachaise.

It's not weird at all. It's a form of history, after all.