Last time you visited a cemetery

[Miss Chicken]

When was the last time you wentto a cemetary to visit a grave (rather than going to a cemetery for a funeral)?

Have you ever gone to a cemetery because you have been researching your family tree?

 

[Jadzia]

My deceased relatives have all been cremated, with the exception of my grandfather, who I never knew. I visited his grave with my parents only once, over 10 years ago when they went to tidy it up. That was the last time I went to a graveyard.

Unlike the rest of my family, I don't like the idea of cremation.

 

[wew]

Last October, went to Arlington National to take a picture of my brother-in-law's tombstone for my sister. She wanted to know if they had added Operation Enduring Freedom to the tombstone. They had, and it only took 8 years to do it.

 

[Pingfah]

I never go to visit a grave because I don't know anyone who has been buried, but I walk in the cemetaries nearby all the time.

Not because i'm morbid, but because they have a prime spot up on a massive hill overlooking the bay and the sea and beaches. It's very quiet and very beautiful.

 

[Kestra]

When was the last time you wentto a cemetary to visit a grave (rather than going to a cemetery for a funeral)?

Have you ever gone to a cemetery because you have been researching your family tree?

I've never gone to a cemetery for any of these reasons. The last (and only time) I was in a cemetery was in elementary school, when we were doing gravestone rubbings.

 

[SmoothieX]

When I lived in VT, there was a cemetary with graves dating back to the early 1800s. I used to like jogging around it.

 

[Shaytan]

When was the last time you wentto a cemetary to visit a grave (rather than going to a cemetery for a funeral)?

Not often for relatives but I enjoy a lot to walk in the Parisian cemeteries, mainly the Père Lachaise. It's quiet, beautiful and interesting at the same time, even fascinating.

A selection of pictures taken in the Père Lachaise.

 

[Sledder]

I often go for family tree research, to get pictures and details from the stones.

 

[iguana_tonante]

At least 15 years ago. All my dead relatives are buried quite far away from where I live now.

Not often for relatives but I enjoy a lot to walk in the Parisian cemeteries, mainly the Père Lachaise. It's quiet, beautiful and interesting at the same time, even fascinating.

It's the one with the Jim Morrison's tomb? I always wanted to visit it.

 

[Shaytan]

Not often for relatives but I enjoy a lot to walk in the Parisian cemeteries, mainly the Père Lachaise. It's quiet, beautiful and interesting at the same time, even fascinating.

It's the one with the Jim Morrison's tomb? I always wanted to visit it.

Yeps, it's this one but really, Jim Morrison's tomb is the less interesting...except if you're interested in crazy things a fan can do )

 

[Omnius]

It's been a while, but I visited the Canadian War Cemetary in Groesbeek (It's not far from where I live). There's a World War 2 museum closeby.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I used to live within easy walking distance to one of the country's premier "garden cemeteries", the Forest Hills Cemetery.

http://www.foresthillscemetery.com/

When we first moved there we thought it was odd that people went their often to walk, jog, picnic, walk dogs, and that they had concerts, art installations and other events there. But, after we were there a very short time, we realized how beautiful it was, and how peaceful. When we got our puppy, it became our favorite place for long wandering dog walks. During that first year, my father-in-law was also fighting what ultimately was a losing battle with lung cancer. The whole experience ended up giving me a completely different perspective on cemeteries. I don't see them so much as depressing places anymore, but as places of peaceful contemplation. We've since moved some miles away and I really miss being able to just take a walk through the cemetery whenever the mood struck me.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Yeps, it's this one but really, Jim Morrison's tomb is the less interesting...except if you're interested in crazy things a fan can do )

Well, I'm not going to have crazy wild sex with my fiancée upon it while listening to the live version The End, if you are worried about that.

I may, however, have a bottle of old cognac while listening to People Are Strange.

 

[Shaytan]

Yeps, it's this one but really, Jim Morrison's tomb is the less interesting...except if you're interested in crazy things a fan can do )

Well, I'm not going to have crazy wild sex with my fiancée upon it while listening to the live version The End, if you are worried about that.

The guards wouldn't let you do. Yeps, there is always to guards to protect this tomb because fans tend to takes "souvenirs" from it.
But the cemetery is full of sexual folklore, like Victor Noir for exemple (the wiki article is soft compared to the rumors).

 

[Misfit Toy]

I go about once a month - to sweep off my father's and my mother-in-law's markers. They're only a few yards apart, so it's easy to take care of both at once.

 

[Mr. B]

March 2008 when we buried my Dad's mom.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I went to the cemetary this week (hence why I got the idea for this thread).

My two best friends, Tania and Dianne, are sisters. 40 years ago their little brother, Robbie, drowned aged 2. He was the youngest of his mother's 13 children. The family were poor and couldn't afford a headstone for the grave.

Late last year Tania decided to put a headstone on her brother's grave. Tania was 4 when her brother died and dosn't remember him. Dianne was 6 and does remember him. She told me he was alive when Apollo 11 lifted off but was dead by the time Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon.

There are no photos of Robbie

We all went up to see Robbie's grave as the headstone was finished.

While on the bus to the cemetery I said that I might go to the cemetery office and find out where a girl I went to school with was buried. Her name was Susan and like Robbie she died in 1969 when she was eleven. The office gave me a map but said it was an unmarked grave. However when I got there I was happy to see that they were wrong and there was a plaque. I don't think anyone had visited Susan grave for a long time. My friends helped me clean up around the plaque.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That was nice of you. It's sad, though, that there are no pictures of Robbie.

I don't really visit graves, but I visit graveyards fairly often. One of my ongoing photography projects is photographing old graveyards. I've photographed the Hancock Cemetery in Quincy Center, an old graveyard by the lake in Braintree, the one in Harvard Square and one in Weymouth. I've also photographed some relatively old sites in the Blue Hills cemetery, and in Wollaston and in Weymouth.

 

[iguana_tonante]

^^ That was nice of you. It's sad, though, that there are no pictures of Robbie.

Personally, I'm not a fan of pictures on tombstones. They usually look phony and sappy. Just name, d.o.b.-d.o.d., and an epitaph looks much more dignified. I wouldn't be opposed to having a statue, tho.

I don't really visit graves, but I visit graveyards fairly often. One of my ongoing photography projects is photographing old graveyards. I've photographed the Hancock Cemetery in Quincy Center, an old graveyard by the lake in Braintree, the one in Harvard Square and one in Weymouth. I've also photographed some relatively old sites in the Blue Hills cemetery, and in Wollaston and in Weymouth.

Except for a few monumental ones, Italian cemeteries are horrible. Space is at a premium, only a few can afford having an individual tombstone in the ground and most people are entombed in cramped burial niches. I like UK and American open air cemeteries much more, with grass and trees. That's one of the reason I just want to be cremated and the ashes dispersed. Better nothing than rotting in a cell like a dead bee.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ A lot of them, like the Blue Hills Cemetery, are nice and open, but not all. The Hancock Cemetery in Quincy Center (where John and John Quincy Adams used to be buried) is very small and cramped, as is the old one in Weymouth (well, it's larger than Quincy, but still feels claustrophobic). I'd love a chance to photograph those Italian burial niches though; I'm sure they're fascinating.