Archive for January, 2009

So, here are some strange cemeteries. I ran across a link to this post titled Paved Paradie: Cemeteries in Parking Lots via BoingBoing.net.

Once sacred ground, it’s now a conspicuous patch of grass in a sea of asphalt, a quirky spectacle to the shoppers forced to drive around it on their way to Radio Shack.

The handful of graves had become an absurd sight gag that punctuated the often indiscriminate momentum of American progress. And it got me thinking: were there others like it? Surely this wasn’t the only time the deceased had stubbornly spoiled the aesthetics of a well-drafted parking lot. I mean, the good spots had already started going to the handicapped; it was only a matter of time before the dead horned in on the action, too.

And you know what? I was right. In fact, I found even more than I expected …

It’s a neat visual tour of some very unlucky cemeteries now located right in the middle of urban America. Sometimes you do wonder what happens to this small, family resting places. Here is your answer.

I thought I’d do my first post on my favorite cemetery, Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. Just the sheer size and history behind this cemetery makes it a great place. It’s an unusual peaceful place within the Milwaukee city limits and is full of Milwaukee history. The photo at the top of the site is also from Forest Home.

Soon after the city was founded in 1846, civic leaders began searching for a place where area residents could count on eternal peace. They found 72 gently rolling and forested acres that, although “far” from town, were accessible by the new Janesville Plank Road. The land was acquired, and the cemetery was named Forest Home.

In 1850, the first burial took place. A few years later, as more cherished memories were entrusted to this special place, the road that led from the growing city was renamed Forest Home Avenue.

Forest Home is the final resting place of many of Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s most famous individuals. Ranging from Fred Usinger (Milwaukee’s Sausage King) to Increase Allen Lapham (Father of the Weather Bureau.) Forest Home even has a building called “The Halls of History” which they say “serves not only as a temperature-controlled indoor mausoleum, but also as a community-education center where people of all ages can learn, and honor, the history of Milwaukee.”

Their website even has a page that allows you to run a self-guided historical tour, including maps and information. I plan to hopefully take the tour this coming spring or summer. Here are some photos I took there a few years ago.

Welcome to the new Graveyard Rabbit site for Southeastern Wisconsin. I’ve been browsing the Graveyard Rabbit sites for a bit now and I’ve found them interesting. I used to have a website up for information on the cemeteries in this area that I set up manually many years ago. After moving hosts and moving on in life, the site never got set back up. It was mainly due to the fact that everything was done by hand; thumbnails, photo galleries, transcriptions, everything. It just seemed like a lot of work.

But, now, with the advent of all of these great programs like WordPress, Gallery, and others, it makes it much easier to do. So, when I saw these Graveyard Rabbit sites, I thought I’d dust off the old stuff and help some people out again.

I picked Southeastern Wisconsin since it covers a lot of ground. I live north of Milwaukee, so I travel around this area a lot. My genealogy research also takes me around this area to cemeteries, so that makes it a lot easier. Currently, there isn’t a lot I can do for new information since we have something like 5-12 inches of snow on top of everything, but once it thaws (and we dry out) I will hopefully get some new information.

Pardon the site right now while I get it all set up and cleaned, but I hope you bookmark it and come back again.