My favorite story in the Leader this week was about Mike and Paula MacDonald cleaning up Laurel Grove Cemetery. I mean to tell you, I know from personal experience that undertaking that kind of work is mighty hard.  It is satisfying, however, and if my back would let me participate, I’d be up there working too.

A few years ago (when I could still take on a physical project outside) I decided I was going to clean up some of the tombstone areas around my grandparent’s resting place.   Both my father’s and my mother’s folks are buried at Laurel Grove, and fairly close to each other on the left hand side.  My great-grandparents on my mother’s side are also there and their grave was the one I decided to tackle first.

I had my oldest daughter with me and she worked circles around me.  I had to take a lawn chair so I could sit down from time to time so the writing was on the wall that my activity level was diminishing.

I found my great grandparents in the 1880 Jefferson County census so you can imagine their graves were pretty overgrown.  We worked steadily and discovered a child’s toy under some of the brush. Another cemetery visitor was strolling around and we got to sharing family stories.  He had a bucket of water stored away in the nearby bushes so he could water his graves when he visited. I don’t remember his name now but he told me his life story about being adopted and all about his mother.  I may have written a blog about that at one time but I couldn’t find it as I looked over my files.

I’ve always liked visiting graveyards.  Well, I should clarify that I like visiting them if I’m not attending a burial. Those aren’t particularly pleasant.  I know the deer hang out there a lot. I see them often sitting around resting when I drive through.  The view from there is pretty nice too.

Thankfully, there’s an organization that is devoted to taking photos of tombstones for people doing research on their family genealogy.  I think it’s called findagrave.com.

I’ve always wished some organization in town would take on Laurel Grove as a project.  An old neighbor of mine when I lived in Hadlock used to tend to the Redmond Cemetery nearby but I don’t know if he’s still able to do that.  My brother, Les, (although he’s not a Catholic) was hired to keep their cemetery up maintenance-wise and I know he enjoys the work.

               I was going to be buried at Laurel Grove but I sold my plot to my cousin for his folks.  I’m planning on heading out North Beach way when it’s time to go to the other side. That’s a fun place to stroll too.  The photo posted was taken from the high school. You should Google Laurel Grove. Lots of interesting stuff out there on this 11 acre cemetery.