Charlotte Pinewood Cemetery

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Here’s a joke from my childhood. “Why is a cemetery like the toilet?

 “Cause when you gotta go, you gotta GO.”

Arriving in Charlotte, NC a day earlier than needed, I found little to do or see in the immediate walking area near my hotel.  Just next door was a cooking school and I suppose I could have gazed longingly through the windows as the students prepared foods.  They might be used to it, but I felt embarrassed and moved on with only a passing glance.  

Five minutes more and I was at the Elmwood/Pinewood Cemetery which originally opened in 1853 as a 100-acre plot that included Pinewood Cemetery, a segregated African American cemetery, and Potter’s Field, a pauper’s cemetery. It is one of Charlotte’s oldest public cemeteries. 

Prior online research prepared me for some of the tombstone symbols I had wondered about.

 

The cemetery was quiet, although along one side trains lumbered by periodically. The city skyline rose over a few larger tombs. On the paths were joggers and a dads with strollers and small children walking.   The weather was cool and calm.  I paid special attention to the different funerary art, but something else struck me as I wandered.  

No matter who you are, or what you do, sooner or later you “gotta go”.