A decision by an Alabama Appeals Court on Friday got me thinking about what happens after we die.
Not the afterlife, just the after-death.
The court ordered an Alabama man to remove his wife's grave from his front yard in Stevenson.
Needless to say, that's the top story in The Daily Sentinal, the local paper in Jackson County. It's been a story there since the man buried her there in 2009, and he tells the paper he will continue to fight to keep her grave there.
You'll have to subscribe to read more, since The Sentinal, like the N.Y. Times, has a pay-wall. Their web address also seems to be interchangeable with that of the Depot Days event at their historic train depot.
But back to the grave. If your next-door neighbor buried his dog in the backyard, would you care? So why do we freak out so much when it's a person?
There is of course, a definitive book about the history of cemeteries in America that can be yours for $54.72. But there is an interview in The Atlantic with the author, Keith Eggener.
Unless you are elected president, or discover gravity, chances are your grave is going to be forgotten after a generation or two or three anyway. So why build big monuments?
There's been a big fight in Montgomery over Lincoln Cemetery. Who owns it? The graves have been falling in and the grass went un-mowed for months. Now the city has approved an ordinance charging a fee for each burial to pay for the upkeep of abandoned cemeteries in the city limits. I guess "perpetual care" isn't quite.
I'm a little more interested in the place than I might otherwise be because our new studios are right next door. I park my car within a few feet of graves, and perhaps even on top of graves (ground penetrating radar has located hundreds of unmarked graves in and near the cemetery).
The cemetery book author linked above says he's planning for a "natural" burial, in which he'll be buried in a sheet and a plain wood box, letting him truly return to the earth.
[ALSO: A Revolutionary War prison camp site in Pennsylvania is being purchased to preserve it for historical purposes...and, the story includes this tidbit about the camp:
Shades of Poltergeist!]
Not the afterlife, just the after-death.
The court ordered an Alabama man to remove his wife's grave from his front yard in Stevenson.
Needless to say, that's the top story in The Daily Sentinal, the local paper in Jackson County. It's been a story there since the man buried her there in 2009, and he tells the paper he will continue to fight to keep her grave there.
But back to the grave. If your next-door neighbor buried his dog in the backyard, would you care? So why do we freak out so much when it's a person?
There is of course, a definitive book about the history of cemeteries in America that can be yours for $54.72. But there is an interview in The Atlantic with the author, Keith Eggener.
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| Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Ala |
There's been a big fight in Montgomery over Lincoln Cemetery. Who owns it? The graves have been falling in and the grass went un-mowed for months. Now the city has approved an ordinance charging a fee for each burial to pay for the upkeep of abandoned cemeteries in the city limits. I guess "perpetual care" isn't quite.
 |
| Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery |
The cemetery book author linked above says he's planning for a "natural" burial, in which he'll be buried in a sheet and a plain wood box, letting him truly return to the earth.
[ALSO: A Revolutionary War prison camp site in Pennsylvania is being purchased to preserve it for historical purposes...and, the story includes this tidbit about the camp:
If there was a cemetery — there may be two or more — it has not been found. Some believe graves may be under what is today one of the neighborhoods that encircle the property.
Shades of Poltergeist!]
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