The Sad Case of the Neglected Blog

Sometimes life can get crazy and overwhelming and some of your favorite past times can get pushed aside in the turmoil. This, unfortunately, is what happened to my cemetery visits for (Good Lord, has it been two years!) quite some time.

This was remedied on Sunday, a lovely, crisp All Hallows Day. We, on impulse, decided to take a detour from our day's errands and visit Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago, one of many of the city's beautiful park cemeteries. Unfortunately, since this was not a planned visit, we did not have a proper camera with us, and so please excuse the unexceptional quality of the photos presented today.

Chicago's oldest and largest non-sectarian cemetery, Rosehill got it's name from a mapmaker's mistake, the area originally called Roe's Hill after a local tavern keeper. Established in 1859, this lovely, rambling park cemetery is home to many spectacular monuments and mausoleums. The graves of quite a few Chicago luminaries can be found here, including Aaron Montgomery Ward, Richard Warren Sears, Oscar Mayer, John G. Shedd, Charles Gates Dawes (Vice President under Calvin Coolidge), and quite a few former Mayors, Senators and Governors.

The grounds were designed by William Saunders, who also designed the Gettysburg Cemetery and the park system in Washington D.C. Many of the first internments here were fallen soldiers from the Civil War. These can be easily recognized by the plain white marble headstones, neatly lined against one another. Saunders envisioned a place where mourners could not only grieve, but also find comfort in the natural beauty of the area.

The cemetery is also home to the city's largest public mausoleum, where you can find the tomb of John G. Shedd, the man who founded Chicago's famous Aquarium. This spectacular vault is carved in a marine motif, and if you are lucky enough to be inside at sunset, is meant to look as if it were under water! I have not yet had the pleasure of witnessing this phenomenon, but it is on my list of "musts" most certainly!

One of my favorite features of this cemetery is the East Gate, which is a fabulous building constructed of Joliet Limestone and was designed by William W. Boyington, the same gentleman who designed the Water Tower on North Michigan Avenue. Unfortunately, the view from outside the gate is obscured by the railroad overpass, but you can still see it's gothic magnificence once you're inside.

You can find many beautiful and unusual monuments as you stroll through this large and fascinating cemetery. Some amusing, others quite haunting and melancholy. One favorite among taphophiles is the George S. Bangs monument, which looks like an ordinary tree trunk motif, but on closer inspection of the base, a train car entering a tunnel is revealed. Quite fitting for the man who originated the idea of the mail car!

Another strange piece is the stone couch which is situated near the McCormick family plot. I don't recall the name that was on the back of the couch, but it is near one of the drives so it is easy to spot. It's kind of a playful and more homey take on the usual exedra that adorn some of the more grand tombs and structures in many cemeteries. I rather like the designer's sense of fun!

A very striking monument is the Stag that stands among some very ordinary headstones. It is in a sad state of disrepair, with poorly patched together pieces and missing antlers and only one surviving ear. Yet it is, to this author at any rate, one of the more outstanding pieces in the cemetery. There is something startling and majestic about it, as it stares, transfixed, at something beyond our view. It is well worth looking for as it is probably one of the more unusual monuments you'll have the pleasure of viewing. It's a shame that no one has been able to restore it, but it also is a reminder of the impermanence of this world, which fits in rather nicely with it's surroundings, don't you think?

One monument that is supposedly haunted is the resting place of Frances M. Pearce, who died in childbirth. This lovely marble sculpture is protected by a glass vitrine and it is said that the encasement will fill with a mysterious white mist on the anniversary of the death of Mrs. Pearce and her daughter. I cannot, unfortunately, confirm or deny such an event as I haven't had the opportunity to visit the grave on the anniversary date, but perhaps you will find your way to this memorial on the appropriate day in May and will be able to make your own report.

Alas, Dear Reader, this is all that I am able to share with you this fine evening. Here is hoping that you are all well and able to visit your local cemeteries to appreciate their wonderful landscape, art, history and memories. I do hope that I shall be able to update this for you more frequently than I have in the past, as there are many fine cemeteries right here in Chicago that I can photograph for your viewing pleasure. Good night to you and thank you for visiting.

The Last, Final Resting Place of Henry Slade, Spirit Medium

How fortunate we were to run into a gentleman by the name of Denny Laub! Mr. Laub, through diligence and clean living, was able to locate the burial spot of one of the most famous Spirit Mediums of the late 19th Century. And only ten miles away from where we stood at that very moment!

Henry Slade was one of the most renowned spirit mediums of his time and was purported to be able to receive messages from the dead written on children's school slates, as well as having the ability to produce spirit manifestations and move objects through telekinetic means. He was considered to be the man who would be the one to fill the shoes of the great D. D. Home. However, because of unfortunate instances of unintentional exposure which could be seen as nothing less than trickery, and health problems that played havoc on his mediumistic abilities, Slade's star fell and he died alone and penniless in Battle Creek, MI.

All did not end there.

Sympathetic members of the Spiritualist communities pulled their funds together and had Slade re-interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Albion, Michigan, where Slade had lived for a time. His new gravestone reads:

Henry Slade, renowned throughout the world as the first spiritualist medium for the independent slate writing. Retired to spirit life September 8, 1905 after an earthly visit of 69 years, 5 months and 22 days. With toil now finished, with soul set free, he now enters eternity.

After we wrote down these words (with great difficulty, for the lichen made the words nearly illegible), we discovered that David's pen mysteriously disappeared. We like to think that Henry kept it as a means of future communication!

You can now visit his grave, as we did, in one of the loveliest little cemeteries you could hope to see.

There is a nice historic marker just outside the gate that gives a brief history of the cemetery. Apparently, this community is proud of the diversity inside the gates, but decline to comment that though diverse, this burial place is very much segregated!

As you drive into the gate, you will see two small buildings. The one to your left is probably from the 1930s or so and is where they have their visitor center. If you are lucky enough to be there when it is open, they can provide you with a map. The lovely little sandstone building directly in front of you is what I presume to be the original gatehouse. It is now used as storage space for the cemetery caretakers. Very picturesque, is it not?

There is something both melancholy and beautiful about crumbling headstones. On the one hand, I can quite appreciate the loveliness of decay. On the other hand, valuable artifacts of history are being lost every day. This cemetery has both damaged as well as fine specimens of markers from the 19th century. Although, it's quite alarming how many of these stones are covered with lichen! Soon, the moss will eat away at almost all of these beautiful sculptures.

You will find a few stones with fantastic masonic symbols carved into them. If you happen to go through the center of Albion, you should stop and thank this fellow for leaving such a handsome downtown for us 21st century folk to enjoy!

I was pleased to find that this cemetery allows its mourners the opportunity to decorate the graves of their loved ones in ways they see fit. You'll see plenty of wind chimes and tchotchkes adorning the plots. You'll also see lovely plantings, such as this lily shown above.

Some of the more touching headstones date back to the 19th century, where they made an art form out of being maudlin. Here is the top of a (badly) repaired headstone that reads "Farewell Dear Nettie" in honor of a man's wife who died at the age of 29. I can't remember what the rest of it said, only that I was left with the impression that this man was devastated by his young wife's death.

A classic depiction of faith on a headstone from the mid-nineteenth century. I adore hands depicted on headstones, and this cemetery does not disappoint.

Well, Fellow Taphophiles! Good travels to you! I hope you enjoyed this tour of Riverside Cemetery. Live well and carpe diem!