November 12th, 2013

On a recent hiking trip to locate what I thought would be an old site of an abandoned 1860's town, I found a hidden and forgotten cemetery. 

As I normally do when hiking, I have out an app on my phone called BillionGraves. I do this not to necessarily document cemeteries but to locate them. I knew I was fairly close and started walking through an old gated access road. It said I was in the middle of it. I looked more closely and sure enough, there were tombstones.

The underbrush was so thick I could barely see it. But as I explored, parts of the cemetery which was once over 1500 graves, opened up to reveal a hidden beauty set on the banks of the Wheeler Wildlife Reserve. In this cemetery, the latest burial was 2006 that I found and so I stood baffled and confused. 1500 bodies. Grandparents and great grandparents that are just forgotten. Left.... as recently as 7 years ago.

But as always, I find some wonder and beauty in my bewilderment. The photo above shows a gigantic pristine tree, showing me just how old this cemetery really is, and how beautiful it must have once been. There are days where some of these things don't makes sense for me but I know that life goes on for the living and it isn't always possible to keep the dead "alive" so to speak. In my Adventures in Genealogy, I've tried to keep even just a small portion of it alive in my photographs.

I've enjoyed my Adventures in Genealogy, and I hope you do as well! ~

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