Cemeteries

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, January 2018; written by Lisa Pearson.

The last time you were on vacation, did you include the local cemetery on your list of sights to see? Have you had the opportunity to pay your respects at the graves of your great-grandparents? These might seem like morbid places to visit, but a graveyard can be an interesting source of local history, culture, and art. We have three books in our collection, including two new ones, which will cause you to reexamine your image of cemeteries.

“199 cemeteries to see before you die” by Loren Rhoads is definitely one of the more unusual travel guides you will find. Spanning the entire globe, Rhoads’ book includes the famous cemeteries you would expect: Arlington National Cemetery, the catacombs of Rome, Hollywood’s Cypress Lawn. But there are also places you may not automatically associate with graves: the Taj Mahal, the Poulnabrone dolmen in Ireland, and the pyramids of Giza. Listed in the book are the burying sites of the rich and powerful, as well as cemeteries that reflect the history of apartheid South Africa, the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, and a graveyard of children at the site of Carthage. Some of the sites are chosen specifically for the beauty of their setting or the artistic merits of the monuments. One of my favorites is the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, Romania, which contains over 700 hand-carved and brightly painted wooden monuments. The monuments were carved by a local artisan and his apprentice, and each one has an image and epitaph specific to the person who died. It’s a wonderful example of how cemeteries can blend the culture and history of a community in a beautiful way.

“Carved in stone: the artistry of early New England gravestones” by brothers Thomas E. and William Gilson showcases the caring detail that can be found in monuments to the dead. Interspersed with close-ups of the stone carvings are excerpts from the writings of prominent Puritan figures such as Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, John Winthrop and Samuel Sewell. These excerpts deal with mortality and the afterlife, and reinforce the themes depicted on these early tombstones. It’s a nice mixture of visual art and the written word, and tells you a lot about the beliefs in Colonial New England.

“The Family Tree cemetery field guide: how to find, record & preserve your ancestors’ graves” by Joy Neighbors is both interesting and practical. She presents a lot of material about the history and types of cemeteries, how to read a gravestone to get the most information, common headstone iconography, and what types of records you might expect to find at a cemetery. More importantly, she helps you get the most out of your time at a cemetery. For many of us, visiting family graves means traveling off-island, so you don’t want to arrive unprepared or forget to record something important. She has great tips for preparatory research, what tools to bring with you (don’t forget extra camera batteries!), a list of 21 facts to find at the cemetery, how to record information without damaging stones, and how to incorporate all your findings into your genealogical research. She even includes a website to help you decipher arcane medical terms (what exactly is “milk sickness”, anyway?). Even if you’re not a practicing genealogist, the information in Neighbors’ book is a great asset. For those of you interested in our local cemetery information, the Ketchikan City Clerk’s office has maps of Bayview Cemetery, as well as records of all burials and reserved graves.

If you would like to restock your personal bookshelves, the Friends of the Library are holding a one-day Winter Book Sale at the library on Saturday the 20th from 10 to 5 pm. Call the library at 225-3331 for more information.