My granddaddy was a monument carver, so from an early age I assumed everybody held picnics in cemeteries. My school-friends informed me that this idea was creepy; poor them, they missed out on the architecture, arts & design, landscaping, geology, spelling, math and history lessons I learned from observing gravesites. I also learned to question and double-check data, because even though a stone claims an ancestor died on leap day, it was not a leap year!
I was a proud momma the time I heard my son tell a friend that they couldn't meet to play, because he and his mom were "going to go look for dead people." He is an adult now, and still gladly hikes through rows of stones with me, gleaning genealogical hints.
It is recreational for me to search for monuments - good exercise for the body and for the soul!

My granddaddy was a monument carver, so from an early age I assumed everybody held picnics in cemeteries. My school-friends informed me that this idea was creepy; poor them, they missed out on the architecture, arts & design, landscaping, geology, spelling, math and history lessons I learned from observing gravesites. I also learned to question and double-check data, because even though a stone claims an ancestor died on leap day, it was not a leap year!
I was a proud momma the time I heard my son tell a friend that they couldn't meet to play, because he and his mom were "going to go look for dead people." He is an adult now, and still gladly hikes through rows of stones with me, gleaning genealogical hints.
It is recreational for me to search for monuments - good exercise for the body and for the soul!