Not All My Friends Are Dead

With apologies to Avery Monsen and Jory John.

Back in October one of my friends posted on Facebook talking about a cemetery she was about to visit in Hartford.  It was, she said, where Katharine Hepburn is buried.  Not long after that I invited myself down to see her, and we managed to coax another friend from our college track team to make the drive from New York to join us.

The cemetery in question is Cedar Hill.  After having brunch Coach drove us there, and we left the car near the entrance.  The grounds are large, well-kept--though there were large drifts of leaves that were treacherous, as we couldn't tell what the ground did under them--and a bit hilly.  Though it was chilly and windy, it was a nice day for it; lots of leaves had fallen but some were still hanging on, and the Japanese maples throughout the grounds were particularly vivid.

One of the notable residents of Cedar Hill is Samuel Colt of firearms fame.  You can still see the Colt factory from I-91 as you drive through Hartford, so it's no big surprise that he's buried in the city.  His family's monument is made of pink stone, carved in Egyptian motifs and accented with bronze.  It's large, but not as ostentatious as some of the other monuments there.

On the other hand, you could miss the Hepburn family's plot if you weren't looking for it.  A large stone carved with the family name is all but hidden under two bushes; directly in front of it are the parents' plaques, set into the ground, and the four children's in front of that (Katharine's is second from left in the photo).  Each plaque is engraved simply with a name and dates, with no mention of occupation or achievements.  It's both admirable in its simplicity, and a little anticlimactic that such a famous woman has such a plain memorial.

Not far away is the tomb of J.P. Morgan.  The family's monument is big, and I'm sure it cost a hefty sum, but again, it's not as grandiose as I might have expected.  Then again, according to the visitors' guide, the monument is supposed to represent Morgan's "vision" of the Ark of the Covenant; I'm assuming by vision they mean idea, not revelation, but whatever the case, that does add that bit of extravagance and self-importance one might associate with someone like Morgan.

 Of course, there are lots of non-famous people buried there, some of whom have interesting headstones, memorials, or mausoleums. One that really stuck out was the Hanson family's.  I don't know who these particular Hansons are, but they've got two things going for them.  The first is that their monument features a carving based on Scandinavian runestones, and includes a runic inscription (though I will say that I think they ought to have chosen a different lettering style for the family name, as my opinion is that the one used doesn't fit well with the rest of the carving).  The second is that the monument is right in front of a pair of large and glorious threadleaf Japanese maples.  At any other time of year it probably wouldn't have been as striking, so we went at just the right time.

And then we went to an Irish pub and had some nachos with pastrami on and I had a really good cider.  When I grow up I want to be able to hang around in cemeteries and drink good cider all the time.

Cemetery Shaming

You'd think the cemetery that was the eternal home to one of the greatest poets in American history would be better taken care of.

I was heading toward Amherst the week before Thanksgiving and decided to do a quick check to see if there were any cemeteries there that I ought to visit.  To my surprise I saw that Emily Dickinson is buried in Amherst's West Cemetery.  Even if it didn't appear that there were many colonial or Revolutionary graves there, I still had to stop in to see Dickinson.

Despite being on the National Register of Historic Places, West Cemetery is disappointing.  It could be a really great cemetery to visit--it's ever so slightly hilly, with a few nice trees scattered around, and clear paths for driving.  Whoever manages the cemetery can't be blamed for the fact that the ground is uneven and pocked with small holes that make walking a bit treacherous.  But there are many broken, fallen, or precariously leaning stones, which I'm willing to attribute to the soil itself; but I can find little excuse for the trash--not just litter, but bags of trash and what appear to be pieces of clothing--left around the grounds.

There are many Dickinson graves there, but the important one is easy to find (that's it, second from left above).  Emily and her family are fenced off by what would be a nice iron fence, provided by distant relatives, but for two things: one, that the fence is only a few inches from the carved face of the tombstones, and therefore two, that the fence passes right over where the Dickinsons are actually buried.

As you might expect at a famous poet's grave, people have left little tokens for Dickinson.  There are small rocks piled on top of her headstone, along with pens and a necklace or bracelet; that all makes a fair amount of sense.  The framed picture of John Lennon and the gray Converse high-tops make a little less sense to me, but then again, the cemetery is within walking distance of the UMass campus, and you know what English majors are like.

The most exciting part of visiting West Cemetery came as I was getting back in the car and saw a skunk trundling around.  I've seen cats and squirrels and chipmunks in cemeteries before, but this was a first for skunks.  So my verdict is go see Emily Dickinson if you like, but don't expect too much, and watch out for the wildlife.

On a practical note, Google seems to believe that the cemetery is at 586 S. Pleasant St.  It isn't.  That appears to be someone's house.  I used the entrance on Triangle St., but it might also be possible to enter from N. Pleasant.