Tag: Cemetery Blog

Cemetery Book Review: Tales and Tombstones of Sunset Cemetery

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I haven’t posted a book review in a little while, so I thought I would review this month’s AGS book club pick: Tales and Tombstones of Sunset Cemetery: Tracing Lives and Memorial Customs in a Southern Graveyard by June Hadden Hobbs and Joe DePriest. Having just come out this year, 2022, this book takes a look specifically at the stories and tombstones of those buried in Sunset Cemetery in Shelby, North Carolina. Here is the book synopsis:

“This book relates the stories of the people buried in Shelby, North Carolina’s historic Sunset Cemetery, a microcosm of the Southeastern United States. The authors, an academic and a journalist, detail the lives and memories of people who are buried here, from Civil War soldiers to those who created the Jim Crow South and promoted the narrative of the Lost Cause. Featured are authors W.J. Cash and Thomas Dixon, whose racist novel was the basis for The Birth of a Nation. Drawn from historical research and local memory, it includes the tales of musicians Don Gibson and Bobby Pepper Head London, as well as a paratrooper who died in the Battle of the Bulge and other ordinary folks who rest in the cemetery. A bigger responsibility is to give a voice to the silenced, enslaved people of color buried in unmarked graves. Cemeteries are sacred places where artistry and memory meet–to understand, we need both the tales and the tombstones.” – Goodreads 

I enjoyed this book. Although I have never visited this cemetery in person, I feel like I have spent many hours walking among its stones. This book is very well written and the photos by Hal Bryant that accompany the stories are beautiful. What I found really interesting about this book is that it’s almost like 2 books in one. One is a journalistic look at the stories of the people behind, or should I say beneath the tombstones. This storytelling dives deep into the history of Shelby and its residents, painting a bright and sometimes dark picture of life there and its community members. The second is a look through the lens of gravestone studies, examining the tombstones themselves; looking at the different types of monuments, the symbolism chosen for the stones, and how different time periods would reflect those choices. When visiting a cemetery we often don’t know who the people are, that the tombstones represent. This book sheds light on the diverse cross-section of stories that are buried beneath the tombstones. 

I read this book in early April when my local cemeteries were still covered in snow. I loved being able to “walk” around Sunset Cemetery via this book. This would be a great read for those looking to cemetery travel, without actually traveling. This book touches on many interesting facets of history, accompanied by beautiful tombstone photos that accent the storytelling. Because of this, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in gravestones, history, or good storytelling.  

Have you read this book? Have you visited Sunset Cemetery? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Visiting cemeteries during a pandemic

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I wrote this post around this same time, in 2020, but it never made it to the blog. At that time, the pandemic would have been in full force, just at the beginning of our quarantine. This would also have been one of the first cemetery trips of that year, after a long winter. I think I was just beginning to seriously focus on my website and blog, and I’ll be honest – it was off to a slow start with sporadic posting. That’s probably why this was never posted. I figured since this was written around the same time, only a couple of years ago, it is worth posting now.

Last weekend, I ventured outside to explore a couple of my local cemeteries. It has been a long winter of being cooped up inside, dreaming about summer cemetery road trips. We had our first sunny weekend, so I took advantage. I figured it is also a safe place to practice physical distancing during these weird times.

The first stop I made was at the Civic Memorial Cemetery, also known as Sudbury Municipal Cemetery. This cemetery is right down the street from me, and the one I have spent the most time in. As a kid, I would spend a lot of time walking around this cemetery looking for ghosts. It’s a newer cemetery, with modern stones and newly built mausoleums. The entrance to this cemetery was recently renovated when they widened Second Avenue. They installed a shiny new archway, similar to the archway at Lasalle Cemetery. They also cleaned up the winding path that leads into the cemetery. I have close family and friends in this cemetery, so I paid them a visit. I also stopped to take some photos of one of the more interesting monuments in this cemetery. The resting place of, I think, the founder of Ellero Monuments, a local headstone maker. The monument is a very detailed sculpture of a man sitting on a rock-cut with tools in his hands, working on breaking the stone. It’s very large and encased in a plexiglass box. To really see the detail, you need to almost press your face against the plexiglass. Over the years the box has become clouded, giving it a spooky silhouette.

  • Civic Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2020

The second cemetery I visited was the Lasalle Cemetery. One of the larger cemeteries in my city. I try to visit different parts of the grounds every time I visit since it is so large. This time, I focused on the stones closest to the street. There are many smaller statues among the stones there. Unfortunately, this cemetery has the most toppled stones, either because of vandalism or ground shift. There is a mix of modern and old stones here, and many feature cameos; ceramic photographs of the deceased.

  • Photo: Lasalle Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2020

My last stop of the day was Eyre Cemetery, the oldest and my favorite of my local cemeteries. It’s a smaller one, filled with only older stones. At this point, the weather had changed on me and was drizzling a little bit, but I did not let that stop me. I wandered the entire left side of the grounds, in search of a few Find a Grave requests. I came up empty-handed though. Some of the stones are so worn that they are not legible. I hope that I did not pass them by because of this. I will need to go back and make some inquiries with cemetery staff, to make sure they are not forgotten. The rain started to pour down more heavily so I decided to pack it in at that point.

  • Eyre Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2020

Overall it was a lovely outing. I got some exercise and fresh air, as well as some new photos. Surprisingly, I did see a lot of people out and about. The groundskeepers were busy maintaining the grounds at each cemetery I visited, and there were visitors at each cemetery as well. I guess in these quarantine times, cemeteries, which are usually quiet and mournful, are being used more as a green space. I saw an elderly couple strolling arm in arm and people walking their dogs. It was different for me, as I tend to be the only living person when I visit.

Looking back, it seems as though many people were discovering cemeteries. I hope those who may have thought it taboo to visit cemeteries, found that they are beautiful green spaces and outdoor art galleries. I think a lot of people were forced to look into their own backyards during quarantine, to find outlets while things like travel were not possible. I know I was very grateful that one of my favorite pass times was still available to me. I was even able to share my love of cemeteries with my mother! Even though COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in my area, I think I will be staying close to home again this summer.

Did you spend a lot of time in cemeteries during the height of the pandemic? Did you discover any new cemeteries? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

A Collection of Hands

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One of my favorite cemetery symbols are hands. They can represent so many things from only how they are positioned. I also find them beautifully detailed, and they have a lot to say. Hands are a very common symbol in funerary art and can be found in almost any cemetery.

I have photographed many over the years, ranging from very simple to very detailed, and wanted to share some of them with you today.

A hand pointing upward often represents going up to heaven. You may also find a hand pointing down, which can look a little odd, but it does not mean what you may have first thought. A hand pointing down usually represents a sudden or unexpected death. Clasped hands or praying hands often represent devotion but can also be seen as a plea for eternal life.

  • Union Cemetery, Sturgeon Falls ON ©2021
  • Terrace Lawn Cemetery, North Bay ON ©2019
  • Lutheran Cemetery, Massey ON ©2020

Handshakes are a very common variation and also can have a few different meanings. When the handshake depicts limp fingers held by a firm handshake, this often represents the deceased being welcomed to heaven by loved ones or maybe even God. When one finger is extended, it is a masonic handshake, meaning the deceased was a member of the Freemasons. You may also find a double masonic handshake, where one finger is extended on each of the hands. This is meant to resemble the square & compass, the emblem of the Freemasons. You should also look closely at the wrists of the hands, this can also give more clues. If both hands look masculine, this could represent fraternal brotherhood. If one of the cuffs is more feminine and one more masculine, this is most likely a marital handshake, to indicate the deceased was married.

  • Queen Street Cemetery, Sault Ste Marie ON ©2021
  • Gordon Cemetery, Gore Bay ON ©2021
  • Saint-Stanislas Cemetery, Quebec ©2012

When you find a hand holding a book, that book is often meant to be the bible. Sometimes it is more obvious, as it may have “holy bible” inscribed on it.

  • Gordon Cemetery, Gore Bay ON ©2021

References:

  1. Understanding Cemetery Symbols: A Field Guide for Historic Graveyards by Tui Snider 
  2. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography by Douglas Keister

Cemetery recipes: Connie’s Date & Nut Bread

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I had such a fun time trying out Kay’s Fudge recipe a couple of months ago, that I wondered what other cemetery recipes were out there. I was pleasantly surprised at the handful of recipes I found.

Today I wanted to try my hand at making Connie’s Date & Nut bread. 100% Good stuff – 0% Bad Stuff. Sounds delicious to me! 

  • Grave of Constance Galberd, Photo by Find a Grave contributor P. Jill Moore. Photo used with permission.

This tombstone can be found in the Cemetery of the Highlands in Highland Mills, NY. Instead of the recipe being engraved on the stone, it’s printed on a small white plaque that is attached to the stone. The headstone belongs to Constance Galberd.

From reading Connie’s obituary, she was a very busy woman. Constance was a retired Registered Nurse at Cornwall Hospital in New York, a member of the Woodbury Community Ambulance Corps, and a member and Trustee of the Woodbury Historical Society. She has three children, a daughter, two sons, and four grandchildren. I think it’s safe to say she was also a great baker with a great sense of humor. Constance passed away in September 2008, at the age of 80. 

You can view her memorial page on Find a Grave.

I love the idea of putting a well-loved family recipe on a tombstone. It ensures the recipe will be passed down through the generations, and that a piece of them will be remembered.

  • Recipe plaque on the grave of Constance Galberd, Photo by Find a Grave contributor P. Jill Moore.
    Photo used with permission.

The recipe reads:

Connie’s Date & Nut Bread | 100% Good stuff – 0% Bad Stuff

Ingredients:

  • 8 oz. dates cut into small pieces
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

  • Pour boiling water (where 2 tsp. of baking soda have been dissolved) over dates and raisins. Cool.
  • Add 1 1/2 c. sugar and mix well.
  • Add 2 eggs, well beaten.
  • Gradually mix in 4 c. of flour and 2 tsp. of baking powder. Beat thoroughly.
  • Add 1/2 c. of chopped nuts. Beat thoroughly.
  • Bake at 350 for 3/4 – 1 hr.
  • Bake in tin cans.
  • One batch = 13 small cans.

This recipe is pretty easy to follow. I have made banana bread before and found the process very similar. The directions are very clear, although I was a little uncertain of how long to let the boiling water over the dates & raisins cool. I spoke out loud to Connie while I mixed my ingredients and waited for the water to cool. When the water was no longer steaming, I mixed in the sugar and continued with the recipe.

I was a little thrown off by the last 2 directions, about baking in tin cans. I had to look that up. I found out that baking in tins cans, like vegetable or soup cans, was used for baking during the depression. The end result would be little round cakes or loaves of bread. I would have loved to be authentic to the recipe, but I didn’t have any empty tin cans to wash out and recycle for baking. It is something I would like to try in the future though. For this recipe, I used 2 loaf pans and split the batter between the two.

My kitchen smelled amazing while these were baking! I had to have a piece when it came out of the oven, and I was not disappointed. It’s a dense bread, similar to a fruit cake. Connie is absolutely right when she says “100% Good stuff – 0% Bad Stuff“. I am really happy with how they came out. After letting them cool on a cooling rack, I popped them out of the pans and wrapped them up. I always love to share my baking, and being able to share Connie’s recipe too feels like a sweet way to remember her.

Will you be trying Connie’s Date & Nut bread? Or have you found another tombstone recipe I should try? Tell me about it in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

References:

Online courses for Taphophiles

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I have always considered myself a lifelong learner, I love taking online courses. I have taken some interesting ones over the years, like Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC’s “The Walking Dead”. During the pandemic, online courses have become pretty popular, and you can find all sorts of online courses offered. The topics can vary, from more regular academic offerings to the more obscure. I remember once taking an online course on Stereoscopy: An Introduction to Victorian Stereo Photography. That was an interesting course. It got me wondering if there were cemetery-related courses available out there? That is something I feel like I can always learn more about.

I have spent some time browsing Atlas Obscura for unique places to visit and found that they offer in-person and virtual courses. They just so happen to offer an online course I think would be perfect for taphophiles. It’s called Stories in the Stones: How to Read a Gravestone With Dr. Elise M. Ciregna. Here is the course description, from the website:

“Have you ever wondered why certain gravestones and funerary monuments look the way they do? In this course, Dr. Elise M. Ciregna will explore how to decipher the stories in these stones, drawing from foundational knowledge of cemeteries and material culture. Over the course of four sessions, we’ll trace the history of burying grounds, cemeteries, and gravestones in the United States, focusing on a different period of American history each week. We’ll cover Puritan and Colonial practice and African American burying grounds through to the impact of cremation on contemporary American burial practice. In between, we’ll touch upon the advent of the garden cemetery movement, the 19th century romance of cemeteries, the cemetery beautiful movement of the early 20th century, and the 20th-century changes in cemetery management—looking at common motifs and stone cutting techniques as we go. By the end of this course, you’ll have the tools to engage with gravestones in a new way, the foundations for doing genealogical research, as well as a new lens through which to understand American society, culture, and values through time.” – Atlas Obscura

It sounds super interesting! There are currently 2 month-long sessions being offered, April (every Saturday) and May (every Sunday). I’ve registered for the May session and am looking forward to it. I’m hoping it will help fill the gap until I can regularly get out to visit cemeteries.

This next course I found is specifically for Clyde River & Area cemeteries in Prince Edward Island. It’s a free, self-directed course created by the Clyde River History Committee, called Cemetery Stories: Online Study Series. This course is not currently running, but since it’s self-directed and the materials are well laid out, I think it’s possible to work your way through the course. It looks like this online course was created to replace their regular lecture series during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course was held from November 2020 – to August 2021, but the course materials can still be found online. The materials include links to online resources, videos, and reading material. It also includes a breakdown of the activities. Some activities look to be specific to the Clyde River & Area cemeteries, but I think the resources they provide would be interesting to any taphophile. 

The last course I found is called Cemetery Symbols, through the Brooklyn Brainery. This course is not currently running, but you can sign up for the mailing list to get notified the next time it’s offered. It sounds very interesting, as it focuses on one of my favorite subjects: symbolism, and iconography in cemeteries. I would love to take this course the next time it’s offered. Here is the course description from the website: 

“Have you found some recent solace in visiting your local cemetery or ever wondered what those symbols etched in the tombstones say about the deceased? Sure, the skulls and winged hourglasses are ominously straightforward, but along with them are secret society emblems, carefully chosen flowers, gesturing hands, guardian animals, and other arcane symbols. This class will explore the meaning behind the symbols commonly found in cemeteries, along with their history in mortuary art, highlighting symbols found in NYC and beyond, so that the next time you go for a stroll in the necropolis you can decipher their hidden meanings.” – Brooklyn Brainery

It’s not a very long list, but that’s all I could find in my most recent search. I think I may revisit this in the future and share other courses I can find. I would love to see more courses become available. There are so many interesting cemetery-related topics that I think can be expanded upon, and would love to learn more about. I would love to see courses exploring the history of historic graveyards, notable graves, death and funerary practices through the ages, and even stone carvers and their materials. There is just so much that can be explored. For the moment I am looking forward to Atlas Obscura’s Stories in the Stones course, my first class is on May 1. I’m hoping it will be informative and that I will learn a new thing or two. I may write another post after the course is done, to share my thoughts, any AHA moments I have, and whether I would recommend the course or not. 

Have you taken some interesting online courses? Or do you know of a cemetery-related course that I missed? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Thanks for reading! 

A tombstone by any other name…

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When we hear the words tombstone, headstone, or gravestone, they all bring the same image to mind; a stone marked with a name, birth date, death date, and maybe some funerary art and an epitaph. It is a stone representing a person laid to rest.

While working on some blog posts recently, I noticed I used the term tombstone very often. To avoid repetition, I found myself using some other words synonymously like headstone, gravestone, and grave marker. It got me thinking, ARE these words interchangeable, or is there a subtle difference? I decided to look into it a little deeper.

My term of preference seems to be tombstone, so that is where I started in my search. The dictionary defines a tombstone as “a stone marker, usually inscribed, on a tomb or grave”.1 The first known use of the word in print was in 1565.2 According to Merriam-Webster, a tombstone is also defined as a gravestone.2

  • McFarlane Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2011

So tombstone and gravestone can be used interchangeably. After a little more reading I found that a gravestone is a Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225.3 It has a similar definition to tombstone, but I read that the term gravestone comes from the practice of covering whole graves in stones, to mark the grave as well as “keep the occupants in the ground”.4

  • Espanola Cemetery, Espanola ON ©2021

A headstone, according to dictionary.com is “a stone marker set at the head of a grave.5 This term was first recorded in 1525-35.5 It is interesting to note that this definition specifies the location of the stone, similar to a footstone, which is a smaller stone laid at the foot of a grave. The first known use of the word headstone was in the 15th century.6

  • St. Francois Xavier Graveyard, Cartier ON ©2021

Grave markers, also known as cemetery markers, are smaller and sit flat to the ground. They can sometimes be angled like a wedgestone, to make them easier to read. They may be small, but they still carry the same information, such as name, birth, and death date.7

  • Eyre Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2021

Two other possible terms are monument and cenotaph. These are a little different as they are not as interchangeable. A monument refers specifically to a very large -monumental- stone.7 A cenotaph may seem similar to a tombstone or monument as it sometimes has names and dates engraved on it, but there are no bodies buried beneath it. Cenotaph means “empty tomb”.8 They are often used to memorialize and commemorate those buried elsewhere, such as soldiers who died in war.

  • Monument – Timmins Memorial Cemetery, Timmins ON ©2017
  • Cenotaph – Civic Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2011

All that being said, tombstone, gravestone and headstone can be used interchangeably. Although at one point in time they may have looked different than what we think of today. It’s interesting to look at how language has changed over time and how these words have all become synonymous with each other. After doing so much reading on the subject, I think tombstone is still my favourite term.

Do you have a preference? Or maybe you use a different term? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for reading!

References:

  1. Tombstone | Dictionary.com
  2. Tombstone | Merriam-Webster
  3. Gravestone | Dictionary.com
  4. What Is the Origin of the Gravestone? | Classroom
  5. Headstone | Dictionary.com
  6. Headstone | Merriam-Webster
  7. The Difference Between Headstones, Monuments, Markers, and Urns | Headstone hub
  8. Tombstone gravestone or headstone whats the difference? | Grammar Girl

Planning a Cemetery road trip

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Spring is right around the corner here in Canada, although you wouldn’t think so with the amount of snow that’s on the ground. The days are getting a little longer and the snow is melting, very slowly. The sun and subtle warmth are giving me hope that cemetery visits will be starting very soon!

I’ve been so excited about the prospects of visiting cemeteries again, that I have spent a lot of time researching and seeking out new cemeteries to visit. I have some fun plans for this spring and summer, involving visiting some nearby towns and cemeteries. I also found some other interesting things to visit.

I enjoy the planning as much as the road trip itself and have found some really interesting things to visit along the way. Due to the pandemic, my trips have been fairly close to home, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots to see. I wanted to share some insights on how I plan a cemetery road trip, and hope it may inspire you to do some local visiting where you are. You never know what you might find!

Where do you start when planning? I use Google My Maps to create my travel plans. You can add a color-coded legend to make things easy to read, and you can add notes to each location marker, like highlighting notable graves in a cemetery, or the best thing to order at a specific restaurant. You can also share these maps with your travel buddies.

Where to visit? I often pick a starting point based on something in particular that I want to see. For example this summer, I want to visit the Devil’s Rock trail head, in the Timiskaming District. It’s very close to Cobalt, Ontario, so for that map, I will focus on destinations leading up to and surrounding Cobalt.

  • Map created using Google My Maps. Legend: Purple – Cemetery, Yellow – Hiking, Orange – Haunted, Dark blue – Museum, Light blue – Heritage Silver Trail, Green – Food, Black – Oddity

Now comes the fun part! What is there to see and do?

I like to start by looking up every cemetery along the way to my chosen destination and in its surrounding area. I tend to focus on cemeteries that I have not visited before, unless I have an urge to visit a particular cemetery again. I also like to look up any memorials and cenotaphs that might be close. Find a Grave and Google Maps are great resources for this. You should also check any tourism websites that exist for the town you will be visiting, they often have cemetery information. Don’t forget to look up any famous, or infamous graves that may be in the area. I like to look for unique tombstones and Atlas Obscura is a great resource for this, as it lists many unique tombstones and cemeteries.

You can also use Atlas Obscura to find other interesting things to visit, like interesting natural landmarks, unique museums, outdoor art, themed restaurants, and all sorts of things that would be cool to visit. Granted there are way more listings for the U.S.A. than for Canada. But there are still some cool things to be found and visited. For example, on my list for this summer’s road trips are the Bean puzzle tombstone in Wellesley, ON, and the UFO monument in Moonbeam, ON.

Image 1: Bean puzzle tombstone – MAC ARMSTRONG / CC BY-SA 2.0. Image 2: Moonbeam’s flying saucer – P199/Public domain

I don’t know about you, but I love food, so I always look for fun local restaurants to try out too. My favorites to visit in the summer are local chip stands. There is also one chain restaurant I always look for – Casey’s Bar & Grill. We no longer have one in my town, and it was a favorite place to go for my friends and I. You can’t beat a tornado potato after a long day of visiting cemeteries.

  • Tornado potato from Casey’s Bar & Grill, North Bay ON ©2019

Lastly, I always look for haunted locations and ghost walks. This may seem a little odd, but if you have ever been on a ghost walk, you may understand. Hauntings are always connected with history. A ghost walk is essentially a history tour, taking you throughout a city and highlighting the darker and seedier past of a place. The stories can tell you a lot about a town’s history, and the people who built it. Cobalt, Ontario for example, is a mining town, and there are many haunted locations connected to that mining history. That’s the type of history I find fascinating. You can’t find ghost walks in every town, so I often like to make my own by compiling all the haunted locations and their stories.

  • The beautiful Ermatinger Old Stone House, in Sault Ste Marie, ON. Supposedly haunted by a few ghosts, although we did not experience anything while we were there. ©2019

All this planning and research can sometimes make the road trips pretty ambitious, and you won’t always be able to see and do everything that you have mapped out. I love having a variety of different things mapped out because that’s as far as my planning goes. Once I am on the road, I go with the flow and see where my map takes me. I don’t always get to visit all the cemeteries, or walk every trail, or visit every museum, but that’s ok! I save those locations that were missed for another trip and create a new map.

Researching and discovering all these interesting places has been a great pastime while waiting for the snow to melt and COVID restrictions to ease. This way I’ll be ready to road trip once the last bit of snow has melted! It also looks like restrictions are lifting and may be completely gone by spring, but that is the beauty of visiting cemeteries, they aren’t very crowded.

I hope you have found some inspiration in this post to start planning your own road trips for this summer and exploring your own backyard. Feel free to share your plans in the comments! I would also love to hear about any cool places you would recommend visiting.

Thanks for reading!

Find a Grave

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I have been spending more and more time on Find a Grave lately. I have been a member for years now, but just recently started being a more active member. This winter, I have been spending a lot of my free time going through my digital files and thought it would be a great opportunity to add some of them to this great website.

Find a Grave, if you are not familiar (if you are a taphophile, I’m sure it needs no explanation) is a great resource for burial information from all over the world. It’s a great tool for those looking for genealogical information, as well as those curious about famous graves. It’s filled with cemetery information, burial details, photos, biographies, and more. It’s also a great community of volunteers, all brought together by this online tool, helping others complete family tree details, sharing a hobby, but also creating an online memorial space to remember lost loved ones. 

“Find a Grave got its start in 1995 when founder Jim Tipton built a website to share his hobby of visiting the graves of famous people. He found that many people shared his interest and quickly opened the site for all individuals (famous and non-famous) with a mission for finding, recording, and presenting burial and final disposition information worldwide. Since then, millions of contributors have been entering memorials, photos, GPS locations, biographies, and other rich content to the site. As the site grew, the community grew also. Find a Grave houses the largest international graving community in the world. In 2013, Find a Grave became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ancestry® and launched a new iOS mobile app. The Android app was released in 2014. Ancestry redesigned the website and released it in August 2018. The community continues to add and update memorials every day. We look forward to an exciting future for the site and the community!” – findagrave.com

I’ve been a member for almost 8 years, and often use Find a Grave when researching road trips for famous graves to visit. As I mentioned above, I recently have started being more active on the site, uploading photos to existing memorials and creating new ones that have not yet been listed. It is also possible to take on photo requests. These are requests submitted by anyone, to photograph a specific grave. The requests include all the details that are available; like cemetery location, full name, and birth and death date if known. As a Find a Grave member you can claim these requests and take photos to fulfill them. It’s a great way to contribute. Did I mention, it’s free to become a member?

Find a Grave also has other features such as their News & Announcements page that lists new website features, tips on how to use the site to its full potential, features on volunteers of the month, and all sorts of cemetery related articles. One of my favorite little touches is the On this day feature on the main page, showcasing famous deaths. There is also a forum to connect members. It features threads on all sorts of different discussions on cemetery research, famous graves, translations, and site support among other things. They also have an online store where you can purchase a small selection of merchandise. I wish they offered a Find a Grave button or stickers. I would love a button to add to my camera bag. 

To learn more about Find a Grave or become a member, you can visit their website at findagrave.com, or find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Are you a contributor to Find a Grave? Feel free to share you experience in the comments.

Thanks for reading! 

A Collection of Lambs

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I love exploring cemeteries and looking at the different symbols used on tombstones. If you spend a lot of time in cemeteries, especially in Northern Ontario, you will start to notice the repetition of certain symbols and motifs. One of the most common symbols I find, is the lamb.

Lambs represent innocence and sacrifice, as they were often used in sacrificial ceremonies in ancient times1. Most often you will find lambs on the gravestones of infants and children, as Jesus is often depicted as a Shepherd, and also known as the “lamb of God”. Some variations can be found with lamb symbolism. A robed figure with a standing lamb beside it most often represents John the Baptist, who had called Jesus the “lamb of God”1. A lamb with a cross is known to represent the Lamb of God or Agnus Dei2, symbolizing the suffering of Christ as he sacrificed himself for the sins of mankind. Several other symbols may be found with a lamb to symbolize the lamb of God – such as a banner, halo, shepherds crook, and alpha and/or omega symbols2. A single seated lamb symbolizes an innocent soul. A seated lamb can sometimes be found sitting in front of a tree stump, this often symbolizes a life cut short. 

Finding lambs is often sad, but they are a beautiful symbol. I have photographed many over the years and wanted to share some of them with you today. 

  • Capreol Cemetery, Capreol ON ©2020
  • Commanda Cemetery, Nipissing Township ON ©2019

Eyre Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2011

  • Terrace Lawn Cemetery, North Bay ON ©2019
  • Nipissing union Cemetery, Township of Nipissing ON ©2019
  • Doon Presbyterian Cemetery, Kitchener ON ©2019
  • Lasalle Cemetery, Sudbury ON ©2011

References:

  1. Understanding Cemetery Symbols: A Field Guide for Historic Graveyards by Tui Snider
  2. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography by Douglas Keister

Cemetery Book Review: City of Immortals Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

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For this month’s book review, I wanted to look at Carolyn Campbell’s debut book, City of Immortals Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. I found out about this book through the Association for Gravestone Studies. It is February’s book, for the AGS book club. 

City of Immortals is in part history, a first-person account, and a guided tour. Carolyn takes us through the rich history of this legendary necropolis, while also sharing her connections to it. She also sheds light on the stories of the most notable figures laid to rest at Père-Lachaise. This book also includes 3 guided tours and an illustrated map, with detailed directions to take you throughout the cemetery.

“This first-person account of a legendary necropolis will delight Francophiles, tourists, and armchair travelers while enriching the experience of taphophiles (cemetery lovers) and aficionados of art and architecture, mystery, and romance. Carolyn Campbell’s evocative images are complemented by those of renowned landscape photographer Joe Cornish.” – Book synopsis 

This is a beautiful book. It boasts a built-in ribbon bookmark, a satin finish cover, glossy pages, and a pull-out illustrated map of the cemetery. The illustrated map was a lovely surprise. I enjoyed this book, for the most part. I loved exploring the rich history of the place. The only aspect of the book I didn’t like was Chapter 3 – Conversations with the immortals. In this chapter, Carolyn holds Q&A conversations with some of the more notable figures buried in the cemetery. I assume she did her research to come up with the answers to her interview-style questions, but these notable figures have passed on—some over a hundred years ago. It sometimes comes across as she is putting words into these people’s mouths. I understand it as a narrative device, but I think it may have been a poor choice. That chapter could have been better used to describe more of the rich history of the cemetery, while the information gleaned from her “conversations” could have been included in the tours. That being said, the walking tours are very well directed and had me feeling like I was wandering the graves in person. This book would be a great resource to bring along if I were to ever visit in person. I also have to mention the gorgeous photography in this book. It runs the gamut from detailed shots of individual tombs while also showcasing the beauty of the landscape as a whole. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book. Especially now, during a pandemic, it’s a great way to travel without leaving the comfort of my couch. It also is a good starting point for planning a future trip when things return to a more comfortable state of normal. I would say this is a great addition to any cemetery or travel library and would be a valuable resource as a guide to visiting Père-Lachaise Cemetery.

Have your read this book? What did you think? Have you ever visited Père-Lachaise Cemetery? Tell me about it in the comments.

Thanks for reading!