There was a place in the Midwest known as "Coffin City" in City that was home to all things funeral-related, from the 1850s to  the mid-1900s. Do you know where it was?  Read on....

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 Fifteen years! It's amazing to realize that A Grave Interest has been published for a decade and a half. Join me as we take a look back, and where the future is heading. 

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Today, we take a look at the turbulent life of horror author, Edgar Allan Poe. https://agraveinterest.com/blog/

Silencing Valor in U.S. Military Cemeteries

Today, we take a look at attempts to "change history" in our military burial grounds. https://agraveinterest.com/blog/

A Grave Interest is Back!

Hello! After a two-year hiatus due to …life, and writing two books, A Grave Interest is back as a weekly cemetery blog. Join me each Friday when a new post hits for more on cemetery history, culture, and research. I have moved to a brand new A Grave Interst website with information on what I speak on, my latest books, (And yes, one came out in November!) and new blog posts, plus the older ones. Find it all at https://agraveinterest.com/blog Thanks for joining me! I look forward to sharing more cemetery news with you! All The Best! Joy Neighbors

Remembering Greyfriars Bobby

 by Joy Neighbors, A Grave Interest

Greyfriars Bobby is the most popular Dandy Dinmont Terrier in the world. Bobby belonged to John Gray, who worked as a night watchman for the Edinburgh, Scotland police force in the 19^th century. Bobby went everywhere with John, including on his watchman rounds.

But John became ill of consumption and died on February 15, 1858. Bobby was inconsolable. He followed the coffin to the gravesite in Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirkyard and remained there for another fourteen years. 

Bobby's Collar

When it was decreed that all dogs must have a license in 1867, the lord provost, Sir William Chambers paid for Bobby’s license so he could remain in the cemetery by his master’s side. His collar tag read: “Greyfriars Bobby – from the lord Provost, 1867, licensed”

 

The people of Edinburgh took care of Bobby, bringing him food and blankets so he didn’t have to leave his master’s grave for long. During Bobby’s life he was awarded the Key to the City of Edinburgh, and his collar now rests in the Museum of Edinburgh.

 

Bobby passed away on January 14,  1872,  at the age of 16 and was buried   just inside the cemetery grounds at the front gate about 75-yards from John’s grave. In 1981, Bobby received a  marker for his grave, which reads:

 

 

 

“Greyfriars Bobby – Died 14th January 1872 – Aged 16 years
Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all”

 

One year after his death, a fountain and life-sized statue of Greyfriars Bobby was placed just outside the Kirkyard. Today, it is considered good luck to rub the statue’s head and nose. Nicholson’s Pub now sits behind it and is known as Greyfriars Bobby’s Bar, named after Edinburgh’s most loyal dog.

 

In 2021, a special memorial was erected to Greyfriars Bobby to mark the 150^th anniversary of his passing. It can be found along the east wall of the cemetery. 

Today, his grave is a sought after spot. When I was in Edinburgh, I made the pilgrimage to Greyfriars Kirkyard, not to see the graves of those bearing the names that were used in the Harry Potter series, but to pay my respects to Greyfriars Bobby. I left a stick for him along with numerous others, as a way to pay tribute to his undying devotion.

~ Joy

Forgotten Cemeteries

 

Cemeteries can disappear for a variety of reasons. We’ve lost many after family farms have been sold or abandoned. In the 20^th century, numerous states didn’t have laws instructing the landholder to continue to care for the cemetery. 

 

Gravestone Path

I know of one southern Illinois farm that was home to a family cemetery. Once sold, the ground was tilled up, and the tombstones were turned over to make a walking path to the hog shed. When I contacted authorities (at that time in the 1980s), the state had no laws in place to prevent a landowner from decimating a family cemetery: it was their land to do with as they liked.

Thankfully, we now have some public officials that understand the necessity of keeping those sacred and vital plots intact. But parcels of land can slip through the cracks. Today, we’ll explore several cemeteries that have “disappeared,” although they remain somewhat intact, just not where you’d expect to find them.

 

INTO THE WOODS, Edgar County, IL

Edgar County, Illinois 

On a cemetery hopping expedition in the spring of 2012, I was having trouble finding a cemetery; located on the map in Brouillett Township. GPS identified it as down a gravel road, but actual driving took me to a rural farmhouse set far from the road. The family who lived there said that  I was searching for Adams Cemetery, which was located on their property. But it would take a four wheeler to get there.

The family who lived there said the name of the cemetery was Adams, and it was located on their property. But it would take a four-wheeler to get there. We loaded up and traveled across a ditch, and a far distance into the woods. After climbing a hill, we found it.

About three dozen graves were there, and in the early spring, the stones were easy to find. Last names included Adams, Bush, Buchanan, Jamison, and Legg. Find A Grave  has a page for the cemetery with 34 documented stones.

 It was an enjoyable foray into the woods, and wonderful to see landowners who considered themselves to be custodians of the graveyard. (If anyone recognizes these folks, please let me know their names. I have forgotten.)

 

 

 

IN THE FRONT YARD, Haysville, IN 

Cemetery in the Front Yard

Hope Cemetery in Dubois County, Indiana, is a fitting name for this small graveyard located in a front yard on Route 56 near Haysville. There are about a dozen grave markers; several with names and dates that are readable. The earliest burial date appears to be 1848 for Ezekiel T. Inman. The last was for Seth Alonzo Roberts, who was born August 1, 1881, and died on February 24, 1943.

 

SPRINGS SHOPPING CENTER, Louisville, KY      

994 Breckenridge Lane                                                                                           

The Burk Family Cemetery is hiding in plain sight in Louisville. Surrounded by tall hedges, the cemetery is located in the parking lot of the Springs Shopping Center.

Five graves are located here, those of James, Matilda, Charles, Samuel Burk, and an infant son, all buried in the 1800s. Four graves are marked with obelisks and ledger stones. The fifth marks the grave of an eight-month-old with an infant carved as if asleep on top of the stone.

At one time, the Burks were prosperous and owned a horse farm. When family members decided to sell the land in the early 20^th century, they refused to have the cemetery moved. And so today, you can still duck behind the hedges and visit the graves of a 19^th century Hoosier farm family.

 

 

 

AT THE MOVIES, Middleburg Heights, OH

18348 Bagley Road

Hickcox Cemetery, also known as Hepburn,  was the burial ground for seven of the original settlers of Cuyahoga County in the early 1800s. A farming community, in the 1840s it became known as the Onion Capitol, growing tons of yellow globe, red wetherfields, and yellow flats onions, celery, and other crops that were shipped to the Eastern United States.

It was stipulated in a Hickcox family member’s will that the cemetery should not be disturbed for any reason. A Middleburg preservation group, “Sons, Wives, Ancestors for Middleburgh's Preservation Coalition” (SWAMP), posted twelve “Pioneer Trail” plaques in the cemetery to provide information about the graves and the cemetery site.

In the late 1990s, a developer bought the land to build a multiplex movie theatre.  The will request was honored, and today, it lies at the corner of a parking lot for the Regal Movie Theatre in the Regal Middleburg Town Square Plaza.

 

KINGS ISLAND, Cincinnati, OH

Dog Street Cemetery at Kings Island

 

Located on what once was the Dill Farm and R. Eugene King Farm in Deerfield Township, is a small cemetery now called Dog Street. Burials began there in 1803 and continued until 1869, including a Revolutionary War veteran, Peter Monfort in 1823.

 

In 1970, when 80-acres of  property was purchased for the Kings Island Amusement Park, developers began a search for the graveyard and the tombs it contained. Untended since the 1890s, it had disappeared in the undergrowth of myrtle, weeds, and trees. Only two stones remained standing, although officials reported that there may have been close to 80 markers at one time. In 2005, the Warren County Genealogical Society found 69 graves in the cemetery, although only 52 headstones remain.

 

There are reports of a five-year-old girl who haunts the graveyard, and the north parking lot. The story goes that the child, called “Missouri Jane” Galeener, died in 1846 of cholera and was buried here. Her family then moved on to Illinois. But reports say that Jane has been seen, wearing a blue prairie dress, wandering  the cemetery and adjacent parking lot. Perhaps she is still searching for the family that moved on.

 

A Note of Encouragement

When you’re searching for a cemetery you can’t find, always take a moment to ask the residents near the GPS location. While some of the early cemeteries are no longer cared for, or are considered defunct, it’s worth checking with locals who might have the answer.

~ Joy