Visiting the Dead

I have a great friend who is into things like English history, genealogy and visiting cool graveyards.  She asked some of us if we wanted go with her for a tour of a local cemetery.  I said yes.  I then promptly forgot that I had said yes.  I mean, I TOTALLY FORGOT.  Not even a trace of a remembrance.

A beautiful sculpture on a surgeon's grave.

Imagine, then, my surprise when my friend pulled up in my driveway Monday night.  I was talking to my sister on the phone and I said something like, "Hmm.  My friend is here.  I wonder what she wants?  I better go see."

I finally had to ask her why she was at my house at 6:40 on a Monday evening.  This was her response:  "Cemetery walk?"

Oops.  Luckily, I had taken a shower about an hour earlier, so I was clean and decently dressed.  We ran upstairs and I slipped on some shoes.  Then I had to move some suitcases from my bedroom back to the 'extra room' (read:  the room where we dump all our crap that we don't know what do to with). I was in the middle of cleaning out that room (summer fort) and had been planning on working on it that evening.  Not so much.

I am proud to report that I did have the presence of mind to grab my camera and most importantly, the gift card to our local ice cream place; Whitey's.  I do have my priorities.

We made it in time to the graveyard and the tour was very cool.  Our guide knew a lot of things about graveyards in general, but she also knew this cemetery specifically.  She showed us where all of the Deere family was buried (yes, John Deere, remember World HQ is here), where Louis Bellson was buried and where Charles Dickens' son was buried.  Apparently, he just happened to be here and was broke, so...

Louis Bellson is from the area and is buried next to his father.

There was also a huge section for paupers graves.  This cemetery was built in the 1800's and it is on a hill, so there is some slippage going on and occasionally, after a good, hard rain, they will find some headstones down the hill.

If you have never taken a cemetery tour, I highly recommend it.  It was very interesting and we didn't even see a single ghost.

This statue was vandalized and
the still do not have any idea
where her head is.

The son of Charles Dickens.

This is the headstone of a soldier who fought in the Civil War.
The cemetery has an entire section devoted to these soldiers.

The mighty Mississippi.

It is easy to see why this
cemetery is a popular place for
the locals to walk and ride bikes.