Reason to Be Happy #114:
Walking in Old Cemeteries
I have a thing for cemeteries. I think they're full of stories. I love to run in them (great scenery, no traffic, good hills) and even just to stroll in them. I like looking at the interesting and unusual items people leave on the graves. I've taken more than one character's name from gravestones. I find them interesting, full places. One set of my grandparents lived next to a cemetery, and my cousins and I used to play there, so maybe that's where my interest started.
Three of my favorite Ohio cemeteries:
1.) Woodland (Dayton): where you can find the graves of the Wright brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Erma Bombeck. There's a statue of a dog and a boy that is usually heaped with interesting trinkets, gifts, candy, and flowers.
2.) Cavalry Cemetery (Dayton): the best cemetery hills for a runner! I almost always encounter deer, and I often see a family of red fox. Both Woodland and Cavalry have great views of the city.
3.) the unmarked graves of the former patients at the abandoned asylum up on The Ridges of Athens, Ohio, now part of Ohio University. Supposed to be very, very haunted.
Do you know the story of Johnny Morehouse? The Grave of the little boy and the dog?
ReplyDeleteNo! I've heard several different versions--that the dog tried to save the boy from drowning, for example--but I have no idea if any of them are based in truth at all. Can you tell me?
ReplyDeleteThat is what happened actually, he drowned in the canal and his dog went in after him and died as well. The stone was erected by an uncle a few years later. One summer my Dad and I spent a lot of time looking through microfiche at the downtown library. There is a group of UD students who adopted the stone and put toys and things on it.
ReplyDeleteSpring Grove in Cincinnati is a beautiful old cemetery as well. The Proctor and Gambles of P&G fame are buried there.
Thank you! I love seeing what has been left on that grave. Every time I go there, I have to seek it out and see what's currently there. What a story of loyalty and love.
ReplyDelete