cemetery Archives - Page 2 of 3 - The Cemetery Detective™

A Tree Growing Around A Gravestone

An engulfed gravestone growing into a tree’s trunk.

Engulfed Gravestone

This is, perhaps, my favorite picture from a cemetery I visited last June outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
I’ve looked at this picture a dozen times. With each viewing, I imagine the slow creep of this tree’s bark. The bark engulfs the gravestone. To me, it signifies the slow creep of time. The slow creep of time that eventually engulfs our life histories. Sure enough, time (the tree’s bark) will eventually complete its encapsulation.
I wonder what will happen if the tree falls one day only to be covered by leaves and mud. Given the correct heat and pressure and moisture, will the tree eventually become petrified wood?
A tree becoming rock.
After dying.
After engulfing a gravestone.
Of a man who died.
After living a full and glorious life.
The tree, which engulfs the gravestone, protects the gravestone for millennia.
The idea gives me chillbumps.

And, then, I look at the picture again. I notice a detail I’ve not seen before in the lower left corner. The fern fronds are SO delicate. So delicate in contrast to the unrelenting force of this gravestone…slowly being engulfed.

Little White Church Cemetery – Jasper, Tennessee

Little White Church Cemetery Sign

Research of one cemetery leads to questions about another cemetery.

While visiting the Jasper, Tennessee library to research my Submerged Cemetery Documentary, I found Little White Church Cemetery just across the parking lot.

It was a sweltering July afternoon and I almost opted for my car’s welcoming air conditioning instead of trudging across the asphalt to view the grave plots. As is normally the case when I think I won’t find anything interesting, I found a cemetery full of grave sites encompassed by 18″ to 24″ concrete walls.

I’m sure I’ve seen this type of design before. However, I’m confused of its purpose and functionality. Is the high wall design intended to keep people and grazing animals from walking on the grave? Do the walls prevent potential erosion problems?

This cemetery is well maintained. The grass was long on the day of my visit. However, it is certainly being cut on a regular basis. Do these walls inhibit proper mowing maintenance? It takes a lot of work to mow grass in a cemetery. I imagine the lawn mowing guys either use a weedeater inside the grave enclosure or lift a small push lawn mower over the walls to perform their mowing. I do wonder if small animals (including snakes) accidentally fall inside the cordoned off perimeter and find themselves unable to escape.

Despite the heat of this blazing hot late July afternoon, the trip to Little White Church Cemetery sparked a curiosity about these grave walls.

If any of my readers know the purpose or history of these grave plot walls, please leave a comment below or send me a private message.

Little White Church Cemetery – Child’s Gravesite

Little White Church Cemetery – Concrete Wall

Little White Church Cemetery – Enclosed Gravesite

Little White Church Cemetery – Family Plot

Little White Church Cemetery – Georgia Watkins

gravestone_little_white_church_cemetery — Little White Church Gravestone

Celestial Alignment Behind a 100 Year Old Gravestone

Celestial alignment behind a 100 year old gravestone.

I blithely strolled through this cemetery when I first discovered this celestial alignment.
With sun setting low on horizon this chilly autumn evening,
I was in the right place at the right time just as it kissed the horizon.
A lone sunbeam glinted perfectly through the little boy’s outstretched hand.

Grand Center Baptist Church Cemetery – Chickamauga, Georgia

In my continual study of North Georgia Cemeteries, I happened upon Grand Center Baptist Church

In my continual study of North Georgia Cemeteries, I happened upon Grand Center Baptist Church with a fenced-in cemetery directly behind the building. This cemetery confused me on three accounts.

When I first arrived at the cemetery, I pulled up Google Maps and Billion Graves to get a confirmation of the correct name and location. I’ve found many church yard cemeteries with names that are not correlated to the name of the church. According to Billion Graves, this cemetery is listed as Chickamauga Cemetery. However, I know Chickamauga Cemetery to be a much larger cemetery. Hmmmm. Why is this cemetery listed as Chickamauga Cemetery in Billion Graves? During further investigation, I found this cemetery to be omitted from Google Maps.

Is it possible this cemetery is not a nationally recognized cemetery and it only exists as a burying yard on church grounds?

The next thing that confused me was a tall chain-link enclosure right in the middle of the cemetery. What an odd location for a chain-link enclosure. Why is it here? Is it for placement of old flowers? Is it protecting a piece of land that is not to be walked on? I don’t know.

The third thing that confused me was a barely readable sign located within a family plot on the western edge of the cemetery. The sign read: “Grave Service Made By Samuel Buchanan For Family In The Deed Which Transferred This Tract To The Public As A Burial Ground.” I imagine this is a legal statement and probably has something to do with the reason this cemetery is not listed on my cemetery maps.

Overall, this was a very pleasant cemetery; well maintained with nice flowers. I wish someone would have been in the church so I could have asked a few questions. If anyone with knowledge of this cemetery has answers, please leave comments below or email me via the “contact page.”

Osage Orange (Hedge Apples) as a Cemetery Fence Row

Osage Orange trees used as a fence row in Forest Hills Cemetery Chattanooga, Tennessee

In addition to great sunrises and cooler weather this time of year, I always enjoy finding Osage Orange fruit during early morning autumn walks in my local cemeteries.

Osage Orange Fruit Signifies The Coming Of Autumn

Osage Orange (Maclura Pomifera) were used for generations by Native Americans – particularly the people of the Osage Nation. Workers crafted bows and other weaponry from its sturdy yet flexible wood.

Osage Orange trees tend to grow in dense proximity to one another. Because of this, they are often used as a natural wind break. In the 1930’s 100’s of millions of Osage Orange trees were planted in the plain states to help guard against wind driven soil erosion during the dust bowl years. This resulted in large-scale distribution of the tree.

Cemeteries Use Osage Orange Trees

Because of its widespread use, public entities, such as cemeteries, used the tree as a means of inexpensive, natural perimeter fencing.

The fruit exudes a sticky white latexy substance that was used in olden times as a natural insect repellant. The fruit’s outside has a wrinkly, craggy appearance.

I am always interested in looking for Fibonacci sequences when I’m observing trees and their fruits out in nature but no discernible Fibonacci sequence is readily apparent on the Osage Orange fruit.

Although not as widely used, now, as it was in the early to mid 1900’s, Osage Orange trees are still very commonly found.

As you can see here, I found quite a few specimens strewn freely on the ground of Forest Hills Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

References:
http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/nebline/hedgeapple.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera

“Magic Forest” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Forest Hills Cemetery Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Tile GPS Locator

TILE helps me keep track of my keys when I misplace them in a cemetery.

While I am adept at finding lost cemeteries, I’m not always so skilled at finding my keys in a cemetery.

On more than one occasion, I’ve left my keys behind on a gravestone before wandering off to explore other areas of the cemetery.

TILE is a handy tool that helps me keep track of my keys (and my cell phone).

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Fernhill Memorial Cemetery – Stuart Florida

Fernhill Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Stuart, Florida offers tropical bauble filled trees, glinting sunbeams, and finely manicured lawns.

Sunny Stuart Florida

is blazing hot in the middle of summertime but the cooler months are completely bearable with warm breezes and glistening beams of sunshine. Palm and other tropical trees grow in the fertile soil and St. Augustine Grass makes for a soft cushion underfoot.

It was one particular warm day and one particular sunbeam that cause my attention last July when I strolled the grounds of Fernhill Memorial Gardens. I love when relatives make their family plots places of celebration. This particular plot is adorned with hanging baubles catching sunlight making a visit to this cemetery less sad.

Lebanon In The Fork First Presbyterian Cemetery

Lebanon In The Fork Presbyterian Cemetery overlooks the muddy headwaters of the Tennessee River.

Lebanon Church Cemetery Near the Fork of the Holston and French Broad

Near the confluence of the Holston River and French Broad River a church burned down in 1981. Its bell and columns were saved but, other than those items, the most enduring visual reminder of the Lebanon Presbyterian church are the tombstones of the old church cemetery.

There is a quarry nearby. Tread carefully along the well-worn footpath toward the rear of the cemetery.

Cemetery at John O’ Groats – Scotland

I found one cemetery in John O’ Groats, Scotland.

It was a typical angst ridden summer. I’d recently graduated college where I’d spent my senior year working in a bank loan office. After graduation, I spent two months hitchhiking and riding trains throughout the British Isles on a BritRail Pass. I stayed with relatives in Liverpool for most of summer vacation but when I outstayed my welcome I would hop on a train and visit the countryside. One week, I traveled as far north as the train tracks took me and spent several nights in a Youth Hostel in John O’ Groats, Scotland. Travelling the rails and meeting other recent graduates who were trying to find themselves filled me with a desire to never stop traveling and exploring the world.

I found one cemetery in John O’ Groats, Scotland. Though I have dozens of pictures of the Youth Hostel and the countryside, I only have one picture of one gravestone.

It was a beautiful summer and I hope to get back to John O’ Groats someday soon to further explore the cemeteries there.

St. Paul’s Cemetery – Bermuda – Finding a Zinc Monument on Bermuda

As a cemetery enthusiast, I am always excited to find Zinc Monuments.

St. Paul’s Cemetery contains a Zinc (White Bronze) grave marker from the Monumental Bronze Company.

As a cemetery enthusiast, I am always excited to find Zinc Monuments. My casual tour of St. Paul’s Cemetery turned into excitement as I found a zinc marker.

Zinc Monuments are fairly common in United States’ Cemeteries. However, I did not expect to find a zinc monument on Bermuda. Zinc monuments were sold by the Monumental Bronze Company between 1875 and 1912. They were sold under the name of White Bronze as a marketing gimmick to make them more appealing than using the word “zinc.”

A rare find of a Zinc grave marker from the Monumental Bronze Company.

I always love finding Zinc grave markers in cemeteries. To the trained eye, they are easy to spot. It’s fun “showing off” to people interested in cemeteries. “See that grave stone? If I rap it with my knuckles, it will ring out like metal.” And when they realize it’s hollow, they love exploring the inscriptions and removable panels (never remove a panel unless you have permission of the owner. Here’s a short video I made of zinc markers in the snow: