Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Uniontown, Pennsylvania cemetery

A Family Mystery: Body Moved from Hawaii to San Francisco 52 yrs after Original Burial

Eliza Mercado was born 1891 in Puerto Rico and died August 1, 1923 in Honolulu Hawaii, where she was buried. On August 4th 1975, Elizabeth’s body was removed and put on a plane to be re-buried at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California.

While most Graveyard explorers know that relocation of interns from one cemetery to another is really nothing new, rarely does it involve such a long distance. A move such as this would be quite costly and certainly not paid for by the cemetery or state. The reburial was not of ashes, but a grave.

Eliza Mercado was laid to rest this second (last lets hope!) time with Chilo Mercado, who was born 1881 in Puerto Rico, immigrated to Hawaii abt. 1899 and then settled in San Francisco in 1924- one year after the death of Eliza. Chilo Mercado passed away on July 24, 1968.

I have no idea what the relationship is between Chilo and Eliza; they may have been wed or she may be a Daughter. Whatever the relation, someone cared quite deeply to know that they should be placed together and made this happen.

I have tried to research cemetery reburials in Hawaii circa 1923 with no luck. Cypress Lawn staff was kind enough to meet with me and throughly check their records but there was nothing specified other than the above posted dates and information. One clue may be in the undertaker (Tommy Wong) and address on Kopke St. Honolulu. If anyone has any information or theories I would love to hear them.

Gone but Not Forgotten: Over 400 Jonestown Victims Buried in Oakland California

Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, an led by Jim Jones. On November 18, 1978, A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones To the extent the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide, it is the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of September 11, 2001.

Today marks the 31^st anniversary of the Jonestown tragedy…. I am always saddened and amazed to find the majority of local residents of Oakland California are not even aware that over 400 victims of the Jonestown tragedy are interned at Evergreen Cemetery of Oakland, nor do they realize on this day each year there is a memorial service to those which brings in hundreds of mourners. Friends and family of the victims as well as temple survivors come to pay their tear filled respects. Even so, each year the annual memorial service at Evergreen increases in number. While at one time there was a sort of false and unfortunate stigma attached to the Jonestown Massacre, it has become more widely accepted that all involved were simply ordinary people betrayed by a charismatic minister who lured them to an integrated church with programs for the poor.

Evergreen is home to 400-410 victims of the Guyana tragedy, both adults and children were laid to rest in a mass grave here in the 1970’s. While some names are known, the majority of interned here are still unidentified and unclaimed. The mass grave is marked by a headstone and throughout the years more memorials have been placed in homage to the tragedy. There is a Cherishing the Children Jonestown Memorial Wall dedicated to the 273 children whose lives were lost, with Forty three and one-half-foot caskets as a reminder. There is also a 36-foot-long stone wall inscribed with the names and ages of more than 900 victims of the violence in Guyana, which is still in progress.

Remains of 1,000 people recovered from one of Ireland’s largest medieval cemeteries

The skeletal remains of more than a thousand people have been recovered from what experts believe was one of Ireland’s largest medieval cemeteries.

According to a report in the Irish Examiner, the ancient bones have produced evidence of several suspected murders and one case of leprosy – an extremely rare occurrence in medieval times. Osteoarchaeologist Carmelita Troy, of Headland Archaeology in Cork, said yesterday she has studied the ancient remains of nearly 1,300 individuals – adult males and females along with children – who were buried at the site at Ardreigh, Athy, in Co Kildare. It is one of the largest skeleton assemblages in the country.

It is believed the site served as a huge regional cemetery for the south Kildare region from perhaps the 7th or 8th century, with classic Christian-style burials – bodies aligned west to east – taking place right up to the 1400s. “The skeletons from Ardreigh give us an important insight into, and help us understand our national heritage and the people from whom we are descended,” Troy said. The site yielded vast amounts of medieval material and the remains of some 1,300 people. The remains include male and female adults, some aged between 45 and 60, teenagers, children and even some fetuses – one as young as 20 weeks.

Roman-Era Cemetery Discovered in Hebron

“Hebron – Ma’an – Palestinian tourism and antiquities police uncovered Roman-era cemeteries in the town of Halhul, north of Hebron, on Thursday, according to the department’s media office. As the municipality of Halhul was using heavy machinery to expand the main road, a number of Roman-era graves and skeletons were found, and workers immediately contacted antiquities police,’ the department said in a statement. Ramadan Awad, the head of Hebron’s police department, asked residents to report any related discoveries to the antiquities police ‘in order to help preserve the civil and historic heritage of Palestine.’”

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month

Penny Cemetery Fund announces Evergreen Cemetery clean-up

Evergreen Cemetery is a historic African-American cemetery in the East End of Richmond, Virginia dating from 1891. Notable African-American Richmonders including Maggie L. Walker, John Mitchell, Jr., A.D.Price, and Rev.J.Andrew Bowler are buried there. Much of the privately-owned cemetery is completely overgrown with kudzu or is returning to forest. The original organization responsible for the cemetery, the Evergreen Cemetery Association, made no allowances for perpetual care in its charter. In 1970, the association sold its more than 5,000 plots to Metropolitan Memorial Services, which soon went bankrupt. Although listed on the State & National registers of historic places this privately owned cemetery has been abandoned for years.

The Penny Cemetery Fund, an attempt to bring new sources of volunteers and funding to the reclamation of Evergreen Cemetery, is organizing a volunteer clean-up day on Saturday, October 31st. The goal to is to clear one acre. The Penny Cemetery Fund is a charitable foundation created, to restore Evergreen Cemetery, a historic Black cemetery, in Richmond’s east end. Contact Deanna Lewis at deanna@pennycemeteryfund.org for more information about the clean-up or the Penny Cemetery Fund. A Families and Friends group on Yahoo has been the organizing point for a handful of volunteers that have been working doggedly to clean and maintain portions of the privately-owned cemetery.

More Problems for Chanate Historical Cemetery

Paupers' graveyard a challenge to navigate
Historian says it's not surprising finding Jane Doe took 2 tries
By BLEYS W. ROSE THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

There are only two unidentified women in a paupers' graveyard in Santa Rosa, buried side by side after having died in the late 1960s, according to local cemetery historian Jeremy Nichols. Mystery has surrounded the remains of a "Jane Doe" that the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department dug up Thursday. Nichols, president of the Sonoma County Historical Society, said the county has buried about 500 bodies over the past 60 years in a forlorn swale of land between Santa Rosa's Memorial Park and the Rural Cemetery.

"It is no wonder that investigators had a difficult time finding the right Jane Doe because both records and the cemetery are not well organized," Nichols said. He has recently published a book, "Potter's Field," about the county's burial practices for indigents that notes the lowland downhill from the Rural Cemetery periodically floods, and plot markers with few names or identification symbols often shift.

Many plot markers are little more than concrete cylinders formed from coffee-can molds.

A team from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and a group of anthropology students from San Francisco State University unearthed the wrong Jane Doe on Wednesday. But on Thursday, they found the coffin they were seeking after shifting their digging operation to a nearby plot. Sheriff's officials have been tight-lipped about revealing what "new information" prompted them to unearth the body of an unidentified woman buried some 40 years ago. Speculation centers on whether a confession has come to light, but authorities have declined to provide details beyond saying the woman was buried sometime in the 1960s. Nichols said information gleaned from his book research verified that there are two unidentified women listed as Jane Doe buried side by side in the center of the graveyard. Although he said he has not been contacted by authorities, he hesitated to provide further burial information because he didn't want to jeopardize what may be a criminal investigation. Both women were buried in the late 1960s, within about two years of each other, he confirmed.

Nichols' book centers on identification of indigents buried at the Chanate Historic Cemetery located across the street from what's now Sutter Medical Center. But, he said, his research also led him to the almost inaccessible 3-acre parcel downhill from the Rural Cemetery purchased by Sonoma County in 1944.

About that time, indigent burials ceased at the Chanate cemetery and internments started at the newly purchased site.

"It still doesn't even have a name, and the county land doesn't belong to the Rural Cemetery or to Santa Rosa Memorial Park," Nichols said. "It is like the sister who marries out of the family church and is never spoken of again."

Nichols said the first mention in public records of the new cemetery for indigents was in Board of Supervisors minutes of 1945 when "someone complained that whoever was doing the burials wasn't keeping good records." "The find of the century was the record I found in Salt Lake City, probably written by the county coroner, that listed all the names of indigents from 1937 buried by the county, where they were buried, which funeral homes handled the body and how much the county paid," Nichols said. He said the records he discovered at the Family History Library at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were not duplicates of anything he could find in Sonoma County.

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month

As an amature genealogist, Ive grown accustom to seeing dating mistakes on head/footstones which are not always as avoidable as one thinks; sometimes a birth date or full name is unknown for whatever reason. This one in particular at Salem Cemetery in Madison KY caught my eye- likely due to the way it was photographed.

It actually took me a minute to notice what is going on here. Thank goodness nowadays descendants on a gen quest have free lookups at their disposal as well as helpful cemetery staff- otherwise, this reversal could be quite the hindrance... I decided it was only right for me to do a quick look up on G. Parsons (being that I have an ancestry.com account), who I assume is male being that there is a mason engraving on the tombstone. Unfortunately I found no Parsons whatsoever born or died on these dates (in their proper order). I did not even find a G. Parsons in Kentucky. Too bad- I have a feeling this guy led an interesting life (and there may be others in the plot being that the bottom of the stone says "Parsons").

Abandoned Cemetery: Our Lady of the Pillar (old section)

Our Lady of the Pillar (aka Nuestra Señora del Pillar Cemetery) is not completely abandoned, in comparison to so many other old cemeteries … It is made up of two distinct sections; the front (upon entrance) holds new internments and is still in active use. This portion is in excellent shape and appears to have a regular caretaker. But as one wanders farther back in exploration, a beautiful yet forgotten portion of this cemetery is uncovered which holds many early residents of Half Moon Bay. There is such a difference in condition of the front (new) and back (old) grounds that one would think it were two separate cemeteries. While I am unsure when Our Lady of the Pillar was opened, I know it became one of the main internments for Catholics after the closure of Pilarcitos Cemetery in 1923.

There is no regular caretaker for the older sections of this cemetery and as I understand it, the lawn and weeds are cleaned up 1-2 times per year (likely by a volunteer- the church is still active). It is overgrown with weeds and riddled with gopher holes, scattered garbage, broken bottles, and silk flowers that are filthy and years old. Many headstones and footstones are broken, have fallen face down (so that the names are not visible), and missing markers. Many headstones have been vandalized. The older section also contains a small area exclusively for baby graves as well as a potters field section; they are both up a hill which is difficult to navigate through due to overgrowth. Most graves in the PFS are unmarked though many were interned here between 1910-1950.

I stumbled across this cemetery while doing paternal genealogy research. My Father's side of the family migrated to Half Moon Bay/San Gregorio when it was known as "Spanish Town" (as many Puerto Rican families did at the time being that fieldwork was plentiful)and therefore I presumed many unknown ancestors would be laid to rest in HMB and it was in this cemetery so far I have found one so far-Joaquin Muniz. As you can see from the photo, his headstone appears to have been vandalized.

Slave Cemetery Dating Back to 1898 Just Discovered

Pittsylvania Co., VA - Officials have been working for months to develop the Berry Hill Mega Park in Pittsylvania County. but now, it looks as though they'll have an extra project to work on.

A resident has discovered a large slave cemetery on the property. They believe there are thousands of graves there, some dating back to 1898.

We spoke with one of the ancestors, Cedrick Hairston, assistant principal at Chatham Middle School. We called him Wednesday to to tell him what we knew and he was so surprised, he met us at the cemetery and he told us he had chills. Hairston knew his ancestors were buried somewhere on Berry Hill Road. "We knew that it existed we were just having a hard time in the location." He never imagined, he'd be walking through the cemetery. "It brings mixed emotions to think of your ancestors."

Some graves were marked with stones. Others, just depressions in the ground. The entire graveyard was hidden by woods.

William Gosnell says he found this cemetery eight years ago. "It took me a week of walking back and forth to locate the cemetery." He was asked by a friend and descendent, who has now passed, to keep it a secret. "She told me not to tell anyone where it was at because she was afraid that people would go in there and disturb it," Gosnell said. He kept his lips sealed until two months ago. "The reason that I told people was simply because I knew they were gonna try to develop this area and if they did there was a possibility that the cemetery might be right in the middle of it," Gosnell said. That's when Gosnell says he got in touch with Sonia Ingram with Virginia Preservation.

County officials say this site will be protected. Their plan is to map it, plot it, and protect it some of which they've already started.

Abandoned Cemetery: White Oak

White Oak is located behind old White Oak Meeting House on KY 152, .25 miles from US 27 and near the end of Fred Day Road. As far as I can tell, there are only two tombstones there: Mary Mack (1855-1936)and Minnie Mack(Sept. 7, 1899-Oct 12 1939). There are probably more burials here but perhaps not; being that the two women passed a few years apart from each other, maybe the family moved.

I wish I knew more about the White Oak Cemetery...Being the Garrard County historical buff that I am, I will be doing a little more research on this cemetery and women on my next visit. I'll add updates as I get them

Photographer: Yvonne Lay Logue

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Governor Signs Galgiani's Neglected and Abandoned Cemetery Bill

Governor Schwarzenegger’s office announced today that he has signed Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani’s Bill, AB 124, which is intended to help the State Cemetery and Funeral Bureau to facilitate maintenance of cemeteries that have been neglected or abandoned. Galgiani crafted the bill in response to the ongoing difficulties at Evergreen Memorial Park in Merced after finding out that the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau had very few options to assist in such situations.

Galgiani’s bill will ensure continual up-keep of private cemeteries when a cemetery is abandoned or neglected by an owner. AB 124 will authorize the appointment of a licensed temporary manager in these dire situations to care for and maintain the cemetery property. AB 124 is a common sense measure that will make certain that California’s deceased loved ones are treated with dignity and respect.

Law goes into effect immediately after being chaptered by the Secretary of State.

Author's bid to restore India graveyard containing great Scots to former glory

WRITER Alexander McCall Smith is launching a campaign to restore the graves of India's great Scots. The Scottish Cemetery in Calcutta is the last resting place of doctors, adventurers, missionaries and businessmen. But the graveyard has been derelict since India won independence in 1947.

Now, No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency author McCall Smith is backing a s200,000 project to restore it to its former glory. Organisers including Lord Charles Bruce are in talks with the Mayor of Calcutta over the planned revamp. More than s20,000 has already been raised to pay for an architectural survey. McCall Smith, who backed the bid after a chance meeting with Lord Charles in India, said: "The graves tell their tale - the characteristically Scottish names carved into the gravestones recording the simple facts of a life.

"There are many Scots who have relatives in that distant Calcutta graveyard and who want to find their graves. "Once the Scottish Cemetery is restored their task will be made all the easier and a bit of our history will have been returned."

Many names on the gravestones belong to Dundee families, because of the city's many connections to the jute industry. In 1800, almost threequarters of the East India Company officials serving in India were Scottish and 60 per cent of the agency houses in Calcutta were owned by Scots. Lord Charles, a direct descendent of two Viceroys of India, said: "The cemetery is filled with Scots who are very much a part of our colourful history in India - and it's a history worth preserving. The project is backed by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, who keep records of places of value to Scots. Secretary Diana Murray said: "The cemetery is an important monument to the joint heritage of Scotland and India."

Breaking News: Burr Oak Cemetery nightmare

They came in droves, generations of families pushing their relatives in wheelchairs, holding them and helping them walk, all while clutching faded obituaries, death certificates and other documents. Pamela Brown was one of hundreds who wandered through Burr Oakl Cemetery near Alsip today, searching in vain for answers. They scanned tombstones, shouted out names and navigated the bumpy terrain. Some stood weeping in frustration. Others said prayers, held each other, cursed out loud and marched out with nothing. A few families brought worn-out family Bibles to Burr Oak so they would have lists of names and dates for their buried relatives. For many African-Americans, burial of the dead is a ritual loaded with meaning that reaches all the way back to slavery. African-American families didn't have the authority to properly bury their dead until after slavery, and then many families were fragmented across the United States. It was at segregated, black-only cemeteries where they could rejoin loved ones to wait in peace until "the rapture" -- where their bodies would rejoin their spirits for a journey to the afterlife. That's why Brown continued to bury relatives at Burr Oak, she said. Even though the cemetery was shabby, she wanted her four grandparents, her mother and father, cousins and aunts to all rest together."Once you have one family member here, you'd put the others here," she said.

So when she heard Thursday that four people had been accused of reselling plots and dumping the remains of old bodies in an empty, abandoned lot, she was overcome with emotion. After searching the cemetery, she could only locate two of the grave sites of her 11 relatives.

"This is the biggest breach of trust I've ever experienced," said Brown of Oak Lawn.

Area funeral homes were inundated with calls from frantic families seeking burial records or assurance. A phone line the Cook County sheriff's office set up to take calls was overwhelmed. Alsip officials fielded hundreds of calls and dispatched police to handle traffic near the cemetery in unincorporated Cook County.

Prosecutors said 200 to 300 bodies were dug up and dumped in an isolated, weedy area of a cemetery at which many prominent African-Americans are buried, including civil rights icon Emmett Till. Exposed bones, chunks of concrete and broken coffins litter the hilly, overgrown area about four blocks long, authorities said.

Former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, foreman Keith Nicks, 45, and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago, and back-hoe operator Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, were each charged with dismembering a human body, a Class X felony. All face up to 30 years in prison. "This crime, it's a whole new dimension that shows us what lengths people will go to for financial gain," said State's Atty. Anita Alvarez. Sheriff Tom Dart said investigators, including dozens of FBI agents, would be at Burr Oak for months sorting through the discarded piles of bones. Not only were remains heaved into a "dump area" at the cemetery, bodies were allegedly double-buried in existing plots, Dart said. "Literally, they were pounded [down]," he said. "They pounded the other [body] down and put someone on top." "The idea of grave robbers, in my judgment there should be no bail. ... There should be a special place in hell," Rev. Jesse Jackson said at a news conference with Dart and Alvarez. Police described Towns, who has filed for bankruptcy three times, as the brains of the operation. She had been fired by the cemetery's owners because of theft allegations. Authorities are also investigating a memorial fund she set up in 2005 to build an Emmett Till museum and mausoleum at Burr Oak for the remains of Till, his mother and stepfather.

No construction work was ever done, and a Till family member said he hadn't heard from Towns in four years. Officials asked any donors to come forward. Towns, who is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail, was placed in the psychiatric wing of Cermak Hospital. "We're concerned for her based on a psychiatric evaluation," said sheriff's office spokesman Steve Patterson. Keith Nicks, who has nearly a dozen arrests since 1998 on misdemeanors charges including assault, domestic battery and violating orders of protection, told a Tribune reporter in May that the cemetery made money, but the owners weren't investing in equipment and upkeep. "It's embarrassing to have to explain to people why the cemetery looks this way," said Nicks, who like other grounds workers wore a uniform that said "Alive With History." Distraught family members had bigger concerns than appearances Thursday. JoAnn Dean, 66, worried about her blood pressure and diabetes as she sat in the heat waiting for access to cemetery records. Number 96 on the list, she was too bitter and angry to leave or give up. "They've opened old wounds," she said, then spoke the names buried there: her great-grandmother Ella Britt; her grandfather Robert Brown; her grandmother Blanche Brown. They've been buried there since the 1950s, she said. "They didn't think there'd be anyone here to connect the present to the past," Dean said. "I'm following up -- these are my loved ones." The more Dean thought about it, the angrier she got. "They threw the bodies to the side," she said. "Dogs and cats don't even get treated like that. They have a proper cemetery where you can go visit them. They threw our bodies to the side. I never thought I'd be going through this, never."

The Cook County sheriff's office set up an e-mail address for families who are concerned about loved ones who are buried at the cemetery: burroakcemeteryinvestigation@gmail.com.

Erika Slife, Alena Scarver, Cara Anthony and Georgia Garvey contributed to this report.

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Pre-historic cemetery discovered along River Nila

This week Archaeologists have discovered a pre-historic necropolis (cemetery) with megalithic cairn circles dating back 2,500 years, many 'postholes' that probably point to the ancient practice of 'excarnation,' a 'wood-henge'-like ritual monument and a site of primitive astronomical intelligence at Anakkara, near Kuttippuram in Malappuram district. Experts believe it is a promising site to study the Early Iron Age culture in Bharathapuza (River Nila) basin).
Read the detailed news report in The Hindu.

A ‘wood-henge’-like ritual monument, discovered at Anakkara, near Kuttippuram in Malappuram district

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Old City Cemetery Committee, Inc. Needs Volenteers

Sacramento City Cemetery was established in 1849 with a donation of 10 acres by Captain John Sutter. The cemetery follows the Victorian Garden style, popular throughout the mid and late 1800's. Among the first interments in the City Cemetery were over 600 victims of the 1850 Cholera Epidemic. Today, the Old City Cemetery is the final resting place of more than 25,000 pioneers, immigrants, their families and descendants. Among the more notable are Captain John A. Sutter, Jr., Sacramento city founder; lawyer and art collector E. B. Crocker; storekeeper turned railroad mogul Mark Hopkins; William Stephen Hamilton, the son of Alexander Hamilton; three California governors and many of Sacramento's earliest mayors.

Old City Cemetery Committee, Inc. is a Non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration, beautification, and preservation of Sacramento's oldest cemetery. The Historic City Cemetery is a work in progress. Although much has been accomplished since 1987 when the Committee tackled the numerous problems of broken headstones, weedy plots and neglect, the Committee has added many volunteer opportunities to handle research, education, fund raising and committee administration.

The Cemetery always needs gardening enthusiasts, help with tours and special events, fund raising for restoration of monuments, enclosures and fences and grant writing. Particular skills we could use now include General Office, grant writing, gardening, fundraising and tours. If a long-term commitment is not possible, the Cemetery welcomes persons or groups who can done-time garden clean up, special event assistance and tours. Please email them at volunteer@oldcitycemetery.com or contact by phone (916) 448-0811 and leave message. They also have an “adopt a plot” program. It offers individuals, groups, organizations, societies and companies the opportunity to play a vital role in saving and preserving a historic Sacramento landmark. By adopting a pioneer family's plot and caring for it, you become a vital part of the cemetery's restoration and preservation program. A few hours of your time each month and a little landscaping imagination can make up for the years of neglect that frequently plagues our old pioneer cemeteries. Click photo to go to website

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor

Abandoned Cemetery: Mount Moriah , Philadelphia PA

Mount Moriah Cemetery was established in 1855; using the concept of Parisian ornate cemeteries, it utilized ornate Romanesque entrance and gatehouse built of brownstone. It was a grand rural cemetery for the accessible to the middle class.

Mount Moriah began with 54 acres and eventually expanded by 380 acres, enough space to build churches, allow for fraternal organizations to establish their own subsections within its bounds, and intern nearly 100,000 people. Mount Moriah contains over 5,000 war veterans including 400 Civil War Soldier's, a ten-acre Naval Asylum Plot residents of the Naval, a dept of veterans affairs area with over 2,000 burials, as well as sections holding Masons (Keystone Chapter No. 175), Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and American Mechanics. It was also once the resting place of Betsy Ross. It also holds the interns who were moved from 10 other closed church cemeteries as well as of course many other citizens who are unsung heroes in their own right. There are aproximately 80,000 people interned at Mount Moriah Cemetery.

As suburban cemeteries grew popular and many left the area, combined with the high perpetual care, Mount Moriah began to fall into neglect. As neighborhood crime increased, along with homeless rates, theft. And vandalism, the cemetery fell into abandonment.

Even its it state of disarray, the beauty of Mt. Moriah Cemetery is obvious; it is recognized as a historical landmark on the Philadelphia Register of historical places. This cemetery truly needs some TLC- while there are constant clean up efforts and attempts to recruit volenteers, it is a somewhat dangerous neighborhood as well as a huge undertaking, given its size. The Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery Group is dedicated to its preservation and actively seeks members to assist in restoration. I urge anyone in the area to join in these efforts.

Head(stone) Scratcher of the Month: Headstone Humor