Muleshoe, Texas

Adjacencies ~ Railroads: What is adjacent to the cemetery? Passing trains. So much for peace and quiet! But, it probably doesn't matter. These souls have departed for a more musical realm far way, while their bodies are almost re-animated by each passing choo-choo. Muleshoe Memorial Park. [2018]

Newport, Rhode Island

Adjacencies ~ Storefronts:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In the older parts of towns all across America, historical cemeteries are bordered by rows of storefronts. Land use changes, but sacred ground remains sacred ground: never erased. These are the cemeteries, frozen in time, that date the neighborhoods which embrace them. Burial Ground. [2008]

Boston, Massachusetts

Adjacencies ~ Midrise Apartments:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? The name of the cemetery tells you what used to be on its perimeter: a large building where grain was stored (a granary). Now it is surrounded by urban mid-rises. That means everyone who enters, exits, and looks out the windows gets a lesson in Puritan eschatology. Granary Burial Ground. [2010]

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Adjacencies ~ City Skylines:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? A city skyline. Most cities have an old cemetery that is on a hill or mesa just outside of town. Since we are in the western United States, we could call this Albuquerque's own Boot Hill. Mount Calvary Cemetery. [2017]

Hurricane, Utah

Adjacencies ~ Snow-Capped Peaks:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In this case, it's a range of snow-capped peaks known as the Pine Valley Mountains. Their function is to lift your gaze and your spirits as you visit the town's cemetery. Hurricane Cemetery. [2019]

Union City, Ohio

Adjacencies ~ Sunflowers:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In agricultural areas, fields of any and every crop may ring rural graveyards like this. But, none are as eye-catching as fields of sunflowers refracting the mid-day sun. Snell Cemetery. [2018]

Woodstown, New Jersey

Adjacencies ~ Farmsteads: What is adjacent to the cemetery? Sometimes cemeteries are part of the farm. Sometimes they are on the edge of the farm and open to the community, in this case the community of Quakers. Woodstown Friends Cemetery. [2017]

Jamestown, Ohio

Adjacencies ~ Grain Silos:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In the American agricultural heartland, both cemeteries and silos are virtually ubiquitous. When they are found together, they generate a doubly powerful spirit of place. Some of the souls buried here may very well have delivered corn to this set of storage bins. Silver Creek Cemetery. [2013]

Salvo, North Carolina

Adjacencies ~ Eateries: What is adjacent to the cemetery? In this case it is Dockside Crabs, which is not really dockside at all. Think about it, though: The name 'Cemetery-side Crabs' just doesn't have the same appeal. Rest assured, however, that the crabs are very local: We are on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Salvo Cemetery. [2019]

Cortland, New York

Adjacencies ~ Water Tanks: What is adjacent to the cemetery? Water tanks not water towers. Where are local cemeteries often situated? On a hill outside of town? What else craves the heights? Municipal water supplies that depend on gravity feed. These two tanks don't need to be water towers because they already have the elevation needed for down-hill flow. Judging from the logo, this water might be destined for the SUNY campus which is right next door. Cortland Rural Cemetery. [2017]

Crossett, Arkansas

Adjacencies ~ Mills:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? The world of work, which is quite in contrast to the world which is "at rest." Here the sense of place is accentuated by the sense of smell, as well as the sense of sight. That mill is a paper mill, and that smell is the smell of the town's economic base. Many of those buried here, probably worked in that mill. Lakewood Cemetery. [2018]

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

Adjacencies ~ Schools:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? In this case, it's a school and a practice field. Actually, the proximity is a little jarring since the habit today is to hide cemeteries so we don't have to confront the inevitable. By contrast, these graves are seem every day by students at this school. And, some of those students must have relatives buried here. St. Mary Cemetery. [2014]

Abbottstown, Pennsylvania

Adjacencies ~ Churches:  What is adjacent to the cemetery? The most common answer, and certainly the most traditional, is a church. The church and cemetery are coupled components of landscape tapestries all over the Christian realm. Whatever is next door to the cemetery gives it character. April is the month to look at "adjacencies." Mummert's Church Cemetery. [2017]

New Orleans, Louisiana

Focus on St. Louis Cemetery No. 2:  Do you think this Powerball billboard has found the right audience? Actually, its location is not so puzzling. What you can't see is what defines the northern border of the cemetery: Interstate-10. [2014]

Atlanta, Georgia

Focus on Oakland Cemetery:  Atlanta is old enough to have a 'rural cemetery' of its own, and it does. Given the rolling hills of the Piedmont, there was no problem in finding an outlying hilltop that rose above Atlanta's downtown. In the distance, you can see three of Peachtree Center's highest high rises. As for Oakland Cemetery, it has high rises of its own: in the form of Victorian tombstones that also lift the eye towards heaven. [2014]

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Zoning Out ~ Review of the Model:  Remember: The character of the land use zone derives in part from the character of its edges. Here, one edge poses a question to which most would answer: 'not that tired, thank you.' Now, it's your job to identify the other three components of the cemetery's landscape: the burial zones, the grave markers, and the contiguous zones. Crestview Cemetery. [2012]

Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

Zoning Out ~ Review of the Model:  Land use zones devoted to burial have lifespans that go on forever, even after they close to new interments. In Selinsgrove's historic cemetery, local pride is focused on one recently-restored grave marker, with four American flags in the contiguous zone. It honors the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Simon Snyder.  He was the state's chief executive during the War of 1812: two hundred years ago exactly. This was his home town and his burial place. Other stones, shaky from the passage of time, have been laid down flat almost as if they are bowing to honor the town's favorite son. Sharon Lutheran Church Cemetery. [2013]

Lewisburg, West Virginia

Zoning Out ~ The Land Use Zone:  Like every other type of land use zone, cemeteries evoke a sense of place.  How you sense a cemetery, however, is conditioned by many factors, one of which is what you see along its edges:  a commercial strip, perhaps.  Another is what you see within its boundaries.  Do you see a pair of eyes looking back at you?  Rosewood Cemetery.  [2012]

 

Kingman, Arizona

Zoning Out ~ The Land Use Zone:  The land use zone of eastern cemeteries is usually green. The land use zone of western cemeteries is often (but not always!) brown. Were it not for the cedars, evergreen symbols of everlasting life, the landscape would be as dead the people buried here. As for the name: From underground, there's not much of a view at all. Mountain View Cemetery. [2010]

Albany, Vermont

Zoning Out ~ The Land Use Zone:  The land use zone is the acreage set aside for disposal of the dead.  In the case of family cemeteries, their landscape architecture evolves organically; they grow as people die. Cemeteries as land use zones add yet another layer of names to the cultural landscape. The names of family cemeteries echo the clannishness of generations past; the last internment here was in 1943. With a name like Hovey Cemetery, you can anticipate at least one of the names that will appear on these hilltop headstones in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Hovey Cemetery. [2009]