I recently started reading the book 199 cemeteries to see before you die by Loren Rhoads.

It’s a beautiful book, that can be used as a travelogue, that lists must-see cemeteries all over the world. It highlights the history that makes each of them unique. The descriptions are accompanied by beautiful photos as well. I get wanderlust just looking at them! 

It got me thinking about what my tally actually is for visited cemeteries. When I was younger, in the early days of my cemetery traveling, I did not document my cemetery photos that well, and have actually lost a large amount of those photos. They would have been taken with film cameras and an old digital point-and-shoot camera. I may still have the negatives somewhere. 

I remember getting lost in the large cemetery in Guelph, Ontario, but don’t have the photos to prove it. I also remember chatting with the caretaker at the old cemetery in Amos, Quebec, and how excited he was to show me some of the more interesting stones there. I don’t have the photos from that trip either. That is one I really regret, as my Mother is from Amos. In that cemetery, it was amusing to see her turn around in circles, amazed at all the family that was buried there. I really wish to go back to visit there again someday. 

So based on my folders of properly labeled and dated photos, here is the breakdown of how many cemeteries I have visited, so far:

• Sudbury – 19
• Ontario – 56
• Other Provinces:
  • Quebec – 6 
  • Saskatchewan – 2
• United States:
  • New York City – 2
• Total – 85 cemeteries

My record for the number of cemeteries visited in one day is 13. Maybe one day that record will be broken, but it has been standing since 2019.

Thanks to 199 cemeteries to see before you die, I have added a large number of cemeteries to my bucket list. Due to the pandemic though, those won’t be added to my tally anytime soon. For now, I will focus on continuing to visit cemeteries close to me. Maybe by the end of the summer, I will have hit 100?

Do you have a running tally of visited cemeteries? What is your number? 

Thanks for reading!