Monday, October 01, 2007

Cemetery / Tombstones - theme day

This summer Alexandra posted a photo of a park in Mission Hills next to Grant Elementary School that used to be a cemetery and it sparked my interest for this theme day.
In 1970 Calvary Cemetery was converted to Pioneer Park by where many of the gravestones and monuments were removed and dumped into a ravine near another San Diego cemetery. The bodies were left in their places and later some of the markers were retrieved and put back in the park as a memorial (shown above). Pretty unsacred, don't you think? Read more here. Want to see more cemeteries and grave markers? Click on a city below:
St. Louis (MO), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Hyde, UK - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Toulouse, France - Arradon, France - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Joplin (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Seattle (WA), USA - Baziège, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Anderson (SC), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Nashville (TN), USA - Tenerife, Spain - Manila, Philippines - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jacksonville (FL), USA - River Falls (WI), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Lubbock (TX), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Moscow, Russia - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Minneapolis (MN), USA - New Orleans (LA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - London, England - Paderborn, Germany - The Hague, Netherlands - Selma (AL), USA - Sunderland, UK - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Stavanger, Norway - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Forks (WA), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Wellington, New Zealand - Montpellier, France - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Evry, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - New York City (NY), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cypress (TX), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Zurich, Switzerland - Budapest, Hungary - Paris, France - Saigon, Vietnam - Grenoble, France - Zurich, Switzerland - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Toronto (ON), Canada

24 Comments:

Blogger Kate said...

This looks very modern compared to some of the other posts today.

Sun Sep 30, 07:28:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Sally said...

Very perfunctory, but I reckon a bunch of old bones don't really care either way! I find the types of monuments and what they say about us in terms of social history more interesting than the disposal of a body, actually.

Sydney Daily Photo

Sun Sep 30, 07:36:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Steve Cuddihy said...

cemetery next to a school, that's very unexpected. I though my photo would be the only cemetery with a surprise built next to it.

Sun Sep 30, 08:27:00 PM PDT  
Blogger kuanyin333 said...

I wouldn't care to live next to a cemetery, but just the same...lovely photo!

Sun Sep 30, 10:22:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Lavenderlady said...

I am glad they preserved the memories of those gone before.

Sun Sep 30, 10:23:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Keropokman said...

glad they don't look creepy. looks very miniature too :-)

Happy Theme Day!

Sun Sep 30, 10:57:00 PM PDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is an interesting layout for the headstones. Almost like an artistic collage.

Mon Oct 01, 01:39:00 AM PDT  
Blogger R&R said...

It's amazing that the city could get away with that. Very interesting story.

Mon Oct 01, 01:46:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Olivier said...

un post intéressant, avec cette histoire. Je suis d'accord avec Slinger, une école à côté d'un cimetière, c'est assez glauque

an interesting post, with this history. I agrees with Slinger, a school beside a cemetery, it is rather glaucous

Mon Oct 01, 02:48:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Kim said...

Wow Felicia,
It's very shocking and sad that that happened. The retrieved stones and markers are certainly arranged attractively. For a lot of people who regularly sleuth around cemeteries for historical research, what happened at this site is unbelievably short sighted and unfathomably callus to the memories of those interred there and their families.
-Kim

Mon Oct 01, 03:42:00 AM PDT  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

WOW, what a strange thing to do. It seems to me that they would be best declaring this a memorial garden.

Mon Oct 01, 04:24:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Marie said...

Yes, it is strange to see a cemetery close to a school but this particular cemetery does not look scary.

Mon Oct 01, 05:13:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Janet said...

Where I live, dumping cemetery monuments would be considered vandalism. I'm glad some of them were saved, just sorry they aren't still on the graves where they belong.

Mon Oct 01, 06:13:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Neva said...

Makes one wonder if there could really be spirits that might be annoyed at the causal way they were "dumped".

Mon Oct 01, 07:04:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Denton said...

Personally I like the idea of my final resting place becoming a park.

Mon Oct 01, 09:28:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Unknown said...

The photo is nice and the park looks like a peaceful place. Until you read the story!!!

Port Angeles Daily Photo

Mon Oct 01, 10:41:00 AM PDT  
Blogger isa said...

Another argument for cremation?

Mon Oct 01, 10:51:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Felicia said...

Thanks to everyone for stopping by. I think this is a shameful part of San Diego history. One of the worst things is the loss of a family's genealogical line - more than half of the markers are just gone. Yeah, I think cremation is the way to go - where are we going to put all these future bodies?

Mon Oct 01, 11:24:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Fénix - Bostonscapes said...

Dumped, just like that... What a terrible thing.

Mon Oct 01, 11:59:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Susan said...

Nice shot Felicia! I've always been intrigued by this cemetery. I realize that it is difficult to find spaces to bury our loved ones in our highly developed city, but this is definitely not the way to fix that. (and it was MY first choice, but I couldn't get there either!)

Mon Oct 01, 12:57:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Lynette said...

It seems modern-day needs (or desires) can certainly mess with the past, doesn't it? I'm so glad you included the historical information with the photo.

Thanks for visiting Portland (OR) Daily Photo and my other blog for all of my theme day photos.

Mon Oct 01, 01:00:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Randy said...

Nice photo.

Mon Oct 01, 06:02:00 PM PDT  
Blogger Mandy said...

a shocking state of affairs but typical unforetunately - I think it is good that a school is near a memorial park.

Tue Oct 02, 04:43:00 AM PDT  
Blogger Brent McD. said...

i think that's pretty sad. what must the people's relatives think? i did a cemetary post recently at URL: http://oesteado.blogspot.com/2007/09/el-campo-santo.html
apparently the road near the old town cemetary paved over some of the old graves. you can actually see little markers embedded in the asphalt.

Tue Oct 02, 04:45:00 PM PDT  

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