Anyone like exploring cemeteries?

[Maddie86]

I love em! The older the better! There's a lot of really cool and unique old stones, and I like looking for pre-civil war veterans too, today I found a cemetery with 8 Revolutionary War soldiers, which is the most I've ever seen in one place. There's some really cool ones in my hometown, but I've been working 45 minutes out of town lately in the small town of Sidney NY and I got out early today so I decided to explore. I found a really old cemetery and the town historian just so happened to be there! He told me a couple neat things about this cemetery. He said that the 3 people in this first picture didn't want to be buried in Sidney soil for some reason so they had tombs built above ground. Some of the bricks were obviously replaced and he said that even the capstones had to be replaced at some point too, that that would have been a very interesting job for a mason!

I found a rev war solider with the best name, Gold Bacon! and he died on April Fool's day!

these bushes are very common in cemeteries in upstate NY, I feel like there has to be some sort of spiritual meaning to them being there but so far I haven't found any

the sign out front said this cemetery was founded in 1787, so I think this is the oldest grave in it!



anyone else into this kind of thing? Feel free to post pics!

[Cassi]

I love em! The older the better! There's a lot of really cool and unique old stones, and I like looking for pre-civil war veterans too, today I found a cemetery with 8 Revolutionary War soldiers, which is the most I've ever seen in one place. There's some really cool ones in my hometown, but I've been working 45 minutes out of town lately in the small town of Sidney NY and I got out early today so I decided to explore. I found a really old cemetery and the town historian just so happened to be there! He told me a couple neat things about this cemetery. He said that the 3 people in this first picture didn't want to be buried in Sidney soil for some reason so they had tombs built above ground. Some of the bricks were obviously replaced and he said that even the capstones had to be replaced at some point too, that that would have been a very interesting job for a mason!

I found a rev war solider with the best name, Gold Bacon! and he died on April Fool's day!

these bushes are very common in cemeteries in upstate NY, I feel like there has to be some sort of spiritual meaning to them being there but so far I haven't found any

the sign out front said this cemetery was founded in 1787, so I think this is the oldest grave in it!



anyone else into this kind of thing? Feel free to post pics!

There are dozens of them in Los Angeles. 

What is great is if you can connect the tombstone to a specific time and event.  When I first visited relatives in Illinois we went to a really old and small cemetery.  My great great grandmother was buried there as well as GGrandfather, grandfather and other family members.  There was a tombstone of a young woman who had died in 1919 I think that had the same name as my cousin who had taken me to the cemetery.  The relative who was buried had died from the spanish flu as did a lot of people so it was historically significant.

[Devlyn]

Lots of old cemeteries here near Boston. Watson, Bell's assistant is buried right up the street. There are a lot of Civil war dead, and you see whole families buried together in the same year when there were flu outbreaks. Mom, Dad, six kids. Usually the kids got a small in-ground marker with their first initial only.

[2.B.Dana]

I do. Thanks for reminding me. I needed to rekindle a hobby and why not this?

Growing up I had to walk by a historic cemetery every day going to school. It creeped me out for a long time. My mom always told me there was no one in the cemetery to be worried about, but watch out for the folks who aren't in there yet!

Look up the Great Peshtigo Fire some time, my home town.

[Devlyn]

I just did. I had never heard of it before.

[Cassi]

I just did. I had never heard of it before.

Pretty interesting huh?

Mrs O'Leary gets around - just kidding

[Bari Jo]

I went on the Dracula tour in Romania for Halloween one year and toured lots of ancient cemeteries there.  It was awesome.  There were candles everywhere and was so much like the old gypsy movies.  I handily re ommend that tour for anybody liking the dark side a bit.

Bari Jo

[Evienne]

Not something I typically do but it sounds like something I would do.

A few months ago I went location scouting through a few graveyards for a music video I had to shoot.
Got to film inside one after getting permission. I don't know if that really counts as looking through graveyards in the way you probably meant though :p

[RobynTx]

I'm part of a paranormal investigation team and we love going to any cemetery. There are some old ones here where I live but the best one we visited was in St Francisville, LA.  It has old the old tombstones with trees that have the moss hanging down from the limbs.  Beautiful place.

[Mountain Warfare Girl]

Me and my wife both love exploring graveyards and I do lots of black and white night photography at grave yards I'll post some photos latter on wen I get to a PC

[Maddie86]

Thanks for all the replies! I didn't expect this many lol!

I went on the Dracula tour in Romania for Halloween one year and toured lots of ancient cemeteries there.  It was awesome.  There were candles everywhere and was so much like the old gypsy movies.  I handily re ommend that tour for anybody liking the dark side a bit.

Bari Jo

that sounds really cool! I'd love to explore some cemeteries overseas sometime! I have a couple friends who have been to some really cool ones in Italy and Scotland

Not something I typically do but it sounds like something I would do.

A few months ago I went location scouting through a few graveyards for a music video I had to shoot.
Got to film inside one after getting permission. I don't know if that really counts as looking through graveyards in the way you probably meant though :p

it counts! This reminds me of how the Ramones shot their music video for "Pet Sematary" at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Marky Ramone wrote about it in his book and it sounded like a very interesting experience! I've been wanting to go there, it's only a couple hours from me but I'd have to make a trip dedicated to just that because I'm never in that part of the state for anything else

I'm part of a paranormal investigation team and we love going to any cemetery. There are some old ones here where I live but the best one we visited was in St Francisville, LA.  It has old the old tombstones with trees that have the moss hanging down from the limbs.  Beautiful place.

neat! That one in LA sounds amazing! Have you ever found any paranormal activity? I've never had any paranormal experiences but I really want to. I'm part of a group that explores cemeteries together but so far we haven't done any ghost hunting, but it's something I would like to get into

Me and my wife both love exploring graveyards and I do lots of black and white night photography at grave yards I'll post some photos latter on wen I get to a PC

yes, please post them, I'd love to see em!

[Maddie86]

Ok I'm gunna post some pictures from my favorite local cemetery, Spring Forest in Binghamton NY. There's some good ones here, I've found the city founders here and Daniel Dickinson, who was a prominent congressman during the civil war era, I've heard that he was close with Lincoln and people wanted him to run for president but he didn't want to, I actually have a biography about him. Another grave here is Issac Perry, he was an architect and he helped design the NY Capitol building in Albany. He also designed the inebriate asylum in Binghamton and it's beautiful, it's referred to as "The castle on the hill". He actually designed the cemetery gates at Spring Forest, it was the last project he worked on before he died, and his funeral procession was the first to pass through the gates! There was also a mass grave where 13 people were buried after a clothing factory fire that happened in 1913, here's a pic:

and here's a photo of the burial:


and here's some more pics I took there:

[The Flying Lemur]

I love exploring old graveyards!  I think older ones are better, too.  I wish there were older graveyards in Michigan, where I live.  There are supposed to be French and Indian War graves in Detroit, but they're unmarked.  Someday I'd love to explore some graveyards in Europe, where they have older ones than we have here. 

[Julia1996]

Not so much now but I did when I was little. Whenever we visited my great grandpa's grave I would run all over the place looking at stuff. I loved the mausoleums that weren't locked and would go in them. My dad would get so annoyed having to chase me all over the cemetery.

[Deborah]

Old cemeteries make me depressed.  I look at the tombstones and start thinking about the people underneath them.  Then I start thinking that they and everyone they ever knew are dead.  In my mind I see them alive and now completely forgotten as if they never existed at all.


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[Cassi]

Not so much now but I did when I was little. Whenever we visited my great grandpa's grave I would run all over the place looking at stuff. I loved the mausoleums that weren't locked and would go in them. My dad would get so annoyed having to chase me all over the cemetery.

You are not allowed at cemetarys my sweet porcelain doll, people will get scare when they see such a sweet doll walking around!!!!!!

[Cassi]

When I was like 3 or 4, my family lived in a housing project in Lomita, CA.  the project was on a hill and called Harbor Hills and our apartment was in the building that was the upmost on the hill.  I remember a small fence being behind us and a walk way.

Anyway, one day my mom couldn't find me and tells me she went nuts.  Her and everyone else that was looking for me found me playing in the cemetery where we lived.   I had my little toy beach sand bucket and shovel.

[Kylo]

When I was a young kid we had no garden in the inner city, so we used to go to St. James' cemetery and I would play there. It's Victorian, very gothic, very spooky. I'm kinda spiritually attached to the place because of all the time I spent there. It's supposed to be haunted, there's a lot of old quarry tunnels tucked away in it, etc. For a kid, it was full of things to inspire the imagination and fantasy. The cathedral itself that looks over it is huge and looks like some dark fantasy castle. Probably my favorite building on this planet, lol.






These days I don't know what it's like, I heard a lot of homeless people and junkies hang out there, but I have fond memories.

Now I live hundreds of miles away from it, and there's a graveyard here too I like to hang out in:



I love cemeteries and old churches.

[Cassi]

When I was a young kid we had no garden in the inner city, so we used to go to St. James' cemetery and I would play there. It's Victorian, very gothic, very spooky. I'm kinda spiritually attached to the place because of all the time I spent there. It's supposed to be haunted, there's a lot of old quarry tunnels tucked away in it, etc.






These days I don't know what it's like, I heard a lot of homeless people and junkies hang out there, but I have fond memories.

Now I live hundreds of miles away from it, and there's a graveyard here too I like to hang out in:

Totally Kewl.  I even think I saw the TARDIS there for a minute.

[Kylo]

Old cemeteries make me depressed.  I look at the tombstones and start thinking about the people underneath them.  Then I start thinking that they and everyone they ever knew are dead.  In my mind I see them alive and now completely forgotten as if they never existed at all.


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I can see why, but whenever I hang out in cemeteries I always feel kind of comforted. The dead are not threatening, they don't mind what I'm doing or why I'm there. They've gone back to wherever we came from, and everything about the whole thing and the whole place suggests it's far more peaceful than this life. Being forgotten used to be something that terrified my brother, but it never seemed to bother me. Everything is eventually going to end and be forgotten so it just makes me think it's all the more important to live life in the now for its own sake, for the simple experience of it. A spark from a fire doesn't live long but the fact it exists at all is amazing, and that it doesn't last doesn't change the fact that it can and does burn bright for a few moments in the universe.

Cemeteries do make me think about death... but I can never feel too sad about it when viewing it as a big picture.