Being A Tourist At Home

Ok, I've been yelled at for not blogging!  Sorry!  No excuses, so I'm going to start catching up on all of my started blogs.  So, quit yelling at me!!

When Cathie was here visiting a bit ago, we went out and tried to do a couple of touristy things right here at home.  One of the things I've wanted to take a look at was a little cemetery in the middle of a quiet neighborhood.  I've driven by Charleston Cemetery a bunch of times always saying "one of these days, I'm going to walk through there".  Cathie being here ended up being the perfect time to do just that!

Like I said, it's in the middle of a quiet neighborhood and honestly, if you weren't looking, you could just drive right by and not know it.

I'm not from Lorain and I don't pretend to know all of the history of this city, but I have to tell you, I got goosebumps walking through this little place.  It's smaller than a city block and I'm not going to guess how many graves are in this little cemetery. 

Someone is taking loving care of this small cemetery.  The markers are mostly unreadable from years of being out in the weather plus what I'm guessing is some vandalism.  I could be wrong and maybe it's just age and weather.  But, someone has done some research and has erected newer markers on a lot of the graves with the pertinent information that is no longer legible on the original markers.

The inhabitants of this cemetery are all from the mid to late 1800s.  Back in that day, they found life a bit more precious because most of the graves are marked with people's ages in years, months and days.  Every day counted.  Unfortunately, the counts weren't too high.  It was not common for people back then to see their 50th birthdays and the number of babies and children buried there was surprising.

I guess my point is that this is a gem in the middle of this city, between 6th and 7th street and between Hamilton and Oberlin.  Some days exploring your own neighborhood can be more interesting than you'd think.

I heard there was a woman that used to give tours of this cemetery and told stories of some of the people that are buried here.  For her own reasons, she has stopped the tours.  I, for one, would be one of the first to sign up for one of her tours, should she ever decide to start them up again.

Go exploring in your own neighborhood.  You never know what you'll find.  If you're in our neighborhood, take a drive over to Charleston Cemetery.  It's worth a walk around.