Grave Matters

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“The fence around a cemetery is foolish, for those inside can't get out, and those outside don't want to get in.” Arthur Brisbane

We never drove past a cemetery without my father asking two questions:

“Why is there a fence around that cemetery?” and “How many dead people are buried there?” I have continued this silly little tradition with my own family. But seriously…I am NOT one to hang around grave yards, although they do make an interesting place for an occasional visit. My children have made rubbings of my grandparents’ headstones, both buried in Arlington National Cemetery. We’ve seen some very old graves in Massachusetts and here in Texas. This past week I visited enough to last me for a while.

I started out in Vicksburg National Military Park, which preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from May 18 to July 4, 1863. The park, also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign, which preceded the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson gave the United States control of the Mississippi River.

Vicksburg National Cemetery is within the park. It has 18,244 interments (12,954 unidentified). That’s 71%. Date of Civil War interments: 1866-1874. Along with the Vietnam “War”, the Civil War Years have to be some of the saddest days of our history.

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The small square stones are for unidentified soldiers.

"BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD"

http://www.cem.va.gov/hist/BODpoem.asp for the entire poem.

He just looks so cold and lonely.

We also took a side trip to Natchez, MS, the oldest city on the Mississippi River. The Natchez National Cemetery is located on the Bluff overlooking the river.

These "draped vases" always make me think of they are "headless".

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Church Streeet in Port Gibson. The “Hand to God”? We had to stop and take a closer look. It beckoned us as we entered the city.

Ivy on church Street

This past weekend I was in DC/VA and visited the Historic Congressional Cemetery, founded in 1807. My sister and I entered the gatehouse and were welcomed, handed a map, and directed to the sign-in book. The woman asked if this was our first time. Yes… She then asked if we were going to work inside or outside. Uhhh, we’re tourists. Is it OK to just walk around? LOL It was volunteer day and as we soon saw, the house was filled with people doing paperwork and more outside doing lawn work. She told us to feel free to clean any of the graves as we wandered.

Armed with a map, we began our wandering. One of the first graves we noticed was that of Leonard Matlovich, gay-rights activist and Air Force veteran. I was very moved and immediately knelt down to clean this gravesite. We brushed the leaves away and uncovered the little plant growing in the corner.

On a less somber note, there is the grave of Mary Ann Hall. You can use your cell phone to dial up the “story’ at different sites.Mary was known for her famous "house" and the infamous women who lived within, and the famous men who visited!

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Mary Ann Hall, long a resident of Washington. With integrity unquestioned, a heart ever open to appeals of distress, a charity that was boundless, she is gone; but her memory will be kept green by many who knew her sterling worth.

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http://www.si.edu/ahhp/madam/index.html

Figure Mary Hall's plot.

Civil War photographer Mathew Brady He was hit by a bus in Dec but lived until mid-January. There are two headstones for him. I guess someone jumped the gun a bit on the first one.

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Many of the tombstones have tilted or tumbled from extreme fluctuations in the weather. art e of distress, a charity that her st

What is this.. a picnic table?

There are two Cemeteries I still want to visit.

One is Père Lachaise Cemetery, established by Napoleon I in 1804. Although I’ve been to Paris several times, this is just one place we never got around to seeing. Along with must-see Oscar Wilde (I’ve read everything) and Jim Morrison (The first person to die that greatly affected me at the time.), there are quite a few interesting and famous souls there.

Rossini, Italian composer

Seurat, artist,

Simone Signoret, actress

Honoré de Balzac , writer

Bizet, composer

Chopin , composer (although his heart is entombed in a pillar in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, Poland)

Colette, Writer

Jean-François Champollion, Egyptologist, decipherer of hieroglyphic text

Eugene Delacroix, painter

Édith Piaf

Proust

The other is the Long Island National Cemetery, where my father is buried. I have never been back since the day of his funeral. Gone too soon. Miss you Dad.

US NAVY KOREA

DATE OF BIRTH: 12/01/1930

DATE OF DEATH: 08/25/1977

Oh, almost forgot… ;-)

A: People are dying to get in

A: All of them.