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explore everywhere

Sometimes I go places, this is where you can read about my adventures. Road trips, cemeteries, abandoned places – they’re all here.

Abandoned Mill

by Kaylah Stroup December 20, 2017

Throwing it back to November’s road trip again today! After catching the ghost town of Frisco at sunset, Jeff and I headed back to Provo for the night. We had stayed there the night before and found a great hotel at a super price so it seemed like an easy choice to go back that way for a good night’s sleep. Plus there was an In-N-Out like two miles away from the hotel so duh. This was also the time both of us started to feel sick. We slept in as much as possible, which isn’t very late at all since we’re early birds, and then started off on another day of adventure. It was the last full day of our trip so we decided it would be best to start working out way back toward Colorado but before we could do that there was one thing we had to check out!

Located on the side of a mountain in a tiny town in Utah, this now abandoned refinery only operated for a few short years from 1921 to 1925. These days it’s looking a little rough. The ruins that remain are covered in terrible graffiti. But boy, oh boy! They are a sight to behold. I’m not sure my photos can properly shows just how HUGE this place is. It was a pretty tiring hike considering the massive cold my body was trying to fight but wow, what a spot! I don’t think it’d have quiet the impact it does if it didn’t have such incredible views though. Utah is just gorgeous!

Other posts from this trip…

▴ engagement story / Cisco, UT
▴ Antelope Island
▴ Eureka Cemetery
▴ ghost town – Silver City, UT
▴ ghost town – Frisco, UT

Word to the wise : please follow any posted signage at the locations I share photos of.  😉
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we only come out at night

by Kaylah Stroup December 19, 2017

canon 6d mark ii

#ghostkaylah

It seems like every year I end up getting myself one very nice Christmas gift – usually photograghy related. Last year it was a new lens, this year a camera! I had been saving my pennies (still loving Digit, y’all!!) for one of Canon’s newest cameras for a little bit but wasn’t really expecting to purchase for a few months. Then I saw a Black Friday deal I couldn’t resist and just went for it! For the same price that most websites carry the camera for I was able to purchase a bundle that came with a fancy pants photo printer, photo paper, battery grip, memory card, and spare battery!

I felt a little guilty after buying it because big purchases always make me nervous but after finally getting the camera in the mail all of that washed away. I’m absolutely in love with my new beast of a camera. I had been wanting to upgrade to a full frame camera for a while but was adamant that I buy one with a flip screen – something Canon didn’t make until this camera. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of, and has totally renewed my passion!

Getting a new camera was the perfect push for Jeff and I to start wandering around at night again too. We’ve gone out in the cold a handful of times in the last couple weeks to shoot and I just want to share a few of my favorite photos. I had never really played around with night photography, and long exposures until meeting Jeff. I’ve done a pretty good job at documenting my progress so it only feels right I post these as well. I’m particularly fond of the first shot!

canon 6d mark ii long exposure, cleveland, ohio, skyline, canon 6d mark ii

Look how pretty Cleveland is!

All photos taken with a Canon 6D Mark ii, 35mm f/1.4L, and of course, wouldn’t be possible without a tripod!
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ghost town – Frisco, UT

by Kaylah Stroup December 12, 2017

ghost town, travel blog, offbeat travel blog

Unlike Silver City, we had the ghost town of Frisco on our radar before even leaving Ohio. I was super stoked to visit. The photos I had found online looked rad, and the cemetery sounded right up my alley. Sadly, we arrived a biiiit too late in the day to see everything. While the sun was still in the sky when the navigation announced we had arrived, it was setting fast. Frisco isn’t located right in view of the road, and is kind of hard to see especially that time of the day. If you weren’t looking for it, you very well might cruise right on past.

We turned down an unmarked street… perhaps it’d be better to call it a ‘path’ though. It was dirt, it was rough, and it was a bit much for our tiny rental car. We also weren’t sure we were heading the right way. So, we tossed it in reverse and headed toward a second dirt path which seemed to be in even worse condition but did have a few ruins visible off in the distance. We pulled over as much as possible, not that being in anyone’s way would ever be a problem there, grabbed our camera bags, and ran to the ruins hoping to catch the last of the day’s light.

We stayed until the light had completely left the sky, which wasn’t very long after we arrived. Jeff seemed excited about his photos, so that made me excited, but I wasn’t expecting much from what I had shot.

ghost town, offbeat travel, utah, sunset in the desert Frisco ghost town, the dainty squid, utah, travel blog,

Fast forward to last week when I finally got around to sorting the photos from this stop, I LOVE THEM!! Like love love loooove them.

I know, I know, I talk about how special these trips are all the time. In nearly every roadtrip post I moon over how they’re always the best weeks of my life… and they are! I love being out on the open road with Jeff. There’s no place I’d rather be. We have so much fun, and see so many incredible things. It’s not all peaches and cream though. Sometimes we forget to eat and run out of energy before finishing exploring a location. Sometimes our rental car is a piece of crap. Aaaand sometimes we don’t plan well enough and show up to a location too late to really shoot it to it’s fullest potential. But maybe that’s what makes these places so great. I love our hectic vacationing style. I love cramming a million sights into one trip. It forces you to appreciate what’s in front of you that second. There’s no sense in fretting about what could have been or how great it’d have been if only this or that happened.

Being able to see Frisco with those gorgeous colors in the sky was just a dream! We didn’t have long, and it was incredibly cold but it was perfect. I love that we left feeling like it was this magical place that held so many secrets.

Other posts from this trip…

▴ engagement story / Cisco, UT
▴ Antelope Island
▴ Eureka Cemetery
▴ ghost town – Silver City, UT

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ghost town – Silver City, UT

by Kaylah Stroup November 29, 2017

Shortly after leaving Eureka Cemetery, Jeff and I stumbled upon Silver City. Despite having mapped out a great deal of the ghost towns in the areas we’d planned on being in the state, I somehow had never seen or heard of this one. According to Wikipedia, ‘there is nothing left other than a few holes where mines were, and a number of tailings piles.’ And now I see why Wikipedia isn’t a reputable source…

Silver City ranks pretty high on the “Boy, I’m glad we slammed on the breaks and turned around for that one” list. From the road we were able to see a building or two but it wasn’t until we got out of the car and started exploring that we saw just how much remained of this silver mining town. What was supposed to be a super quick stop for a photo or two turned into us wandering around until we were too hungry to go on. Each time we’d thought we’d seen it all we’d stumble upon another building or neat little hole in the ground. It was an incredible find!

silver city, ghost town

Below are my souvenirs from Silver City. I brought a bunch of land camera film (which you can find here) on the trip but this was the location I shot the most. It captured so beautifully. I have so many photos from this location I could easily write a second post just to share my film photos. The film photo displayed below was my favorite, perhaps even of the whole trip. We found that area of Silver City last. We were both starving and ready to leave but there was a building I could see off in the distance that I wanted to shoot real quick before hopping back in the car. I ran over to grab my shot and stopped in awe of that little layout. It just looked so ancient. Something about it just really struck my fancy.

Around Silver City in a few places were little piles of gathered items. First was a pile of pretty rocks. (I shared a photo of that here.) A few minutes later I stumbled upon another pile which included some rocks, pieces of metal, and this nail. I just couldn’t seem to leave it behind. I wanted to bring my own little piece of Silver City home since it stole a piece of my heart. Too cheesy for you? I thought so too but I’m only half joking. I don’t feel like I could ever accurately describe how much these trips, and random stops just like this one mean to me.  Silver City may not be your average tourist destination but we couldn’t have loved it more! Unplanned surprises like this are exactly what I love so much about roadtrippin’!!

utah, ghost town Silver City, Ghost Town, Utah

 

Other posts from this trip…

▴ engagement story / Cisco, UT
▴ Antelope Island
▴ Eureka Cemetery

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Eureka Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup November 22, 2017

utah, old headstone

After ooh-ing and ahhh-ing at all the incredible animals on Antelope Island I suggested we head to Eureka, Utah. Eureka is listed on quite a few websites as a ghost town so obviously that was what drew us there. The photos looked promising. Upon arriving we quickly realized this was not that case. I mean, there are definitely abandoned houses, and storefronts but there is also a pretty sizable population of folks who still reside there.

Would it have been cool to get some shots of the abandoned buildings? Sure but shooting buildings that are surrounded by people’s homes is something I’m not super comfortable with. It feels like an invasion of privacy. Neither of us had cell phone service, and hadn’t bothered to really think ahead about where we’d be heading next so the only thing we could do was just keep driving. It didn’t take long before we stumbled upon Eureka Cemetery. It didn’t look all that interesting from the road but it seemed like a decent place stretch our legs for a few minutes. The majority of the graves near the front of the cemetery were fairly new meaning not something I’d photograph but then I spotted ‘big deal’.

eureka cemetery, utah, unique headstone

I had to get a shot of that grave marker. I hopped out, got my photo, and realized just how lovely the colors were. I’m generally not a fan of shooting in direct sunlight but I’ve found that when I shoot cemeteries in full sun I usually end up loving those photos the most. The lighting conditions mixed with the gorgeous colors (Utah, I love all your yellows!) yielded some spectacular photos! I’m so happy with how these turned out. The incredible mountainous scenery, the barren cemetery, the unique headstones! I’m in loooove!

headstones, eureka cemetery eureka cemetery

Other posts from this trip…

▴ engagement story / Cisco, UT
▴ Antelope Island

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Antelope Island

by Kaylah Stroup November 15, 2017

As per usual, before leaving on our latest roadtrip, we hadn’t done much research. I take that back, I actually mapped out all the interesting ghost towns I could find but quickly realized it was way more driving than we could handle on this short trip. Basically, our plan was Cisco (where Jeff proposed!!!) and then decide from there what to do.

Once we woke up in the morning I realized how close the Great Salt Lake was, and noted that there were a few other things in the area that would make driving in that direction seem like the right choice. A quick search seemed to point to Antelope Island as the best place to visit if we wanted to check out the lake so that’s where we went.

Antelope Island is the largest of ten islands located within the Great Salt Lake. It is home to populations of pronghorn, bighorn sheep, American bison, porcupine, bager, coyote, bobcat, mule deer and lots of birds. Sounds pretty promising, right? The fact there was admission to the island made me question if we really needed to go there but we certainly ended up getting our ten bucks worth.

Within five minutes of being on the island we spotted a herd of antelope which was beyond exciting. The very first time we had seen antelope was back in 2014 on the way to Cisco. I had no idea what they were at the time. I just remember shouting “I saw weird deer. They were like deer, but not deer!” as we sped by them. This year I got to positively identify those ‘weird deer’ as pronghorn.

They’re not true antelope like you’d find in Africa or Eurasia but they’re known colloquially in North America as antelope. Whatever you want to call them, they’re cute as all heck. I was SUPER excited to have Jeff’s 70-200mm lens. Gosh, we needed two of them on this trip so that we weren’t constantly trading lenses. I was a bit bummed about not being to get any really nice portraits of one but I really am smitten with the shots I got. How can an animal look so adorable from behind? Look at them fluffy butts!

pronghorn, antelope island

pronghorn, utah, great salt lake, antelope island

After the pronghorn we continued driving around the island looking for more critters. The weather was a bit gloomy, and we were completely underdressed but there wasn’t another person in sight. It was lovely to have such a gorgeous park all to ourselves. I would have to imagine that in nicer weather this place is packed. It felt like we were on our own little self guided safari.

We didn’t have to drive far before we came upon some bison just chilling beside the road. I guess if you lived out here these animals might not be so exciting to you but Jeff and I were both whisper yelling at each other about how amazing it was to be so close. They’re pretty dirty lookin’ dudes. We both took approximately four billion photos of them though…

antelope island, great salt lake, utah

great salt lake, antelope island

great salt lake, antelope island

After getting our fill of bison, spotting a few mule deer, and admiring some more incredible scenery we were ready to hit the road. Before we could do that though, I thought it only necessary to actually go to the beach at the Great Salt Lake. We followed signed for the beach, parked, and walked what felt like years. Walking in the sand is so exhausting.

A little foamy but otherwise it was really nothing too exciting. I had read that the lake had a huge population of brine shrimp. I was pretty disappointed to not find any…until I realized THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. See those brown-ish lines in the sand? Brine shirmp! The massive clumps that I thought were just… I don’t know, regular stuff that washes up on the beach (??) were actually thousands and thousands and thousands of brine shrimp. Pretty wild stuff!

So, I would definitely say our short trip to Antelope Island was successful. Every animal I saw was something that I wasn’t 100% familiar with which is wildly exciting. I feel like the amount of time we spent there was perfect. Enough to satisfy my curiousity but still leave me wanting more. Utah is a wonderland!
xoxo

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engagement story / cisco, UT

by Kaylah Stroup November 13, 2017

Things were pretty quiet on the blog front last week. I actually think that may have been the longest I didn’t blog in the history of The Dainty Squid. Jeff and I took a short vacation, I did a poor job planning content then immediately came home and got a gnarly cold. So, if you don’t follow me on Instagram you may have missed the big news. Uh, THAT happened. (Check out the announcement + ca-yoot photo here!) Needless to say, It’s been a whirlwind week!

Let’s throw it back three years. Jeff and I had been dating two and a half months when we decided to take our first trip together. We flew into Denver, Colorado, rented a car and drove around six states including Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, and New Mexico. We spent two nights in a hotel, one night in a wigwam, and the other three in the car. In the six days we were on the road we racked up a whopping 3,204 miles. It was the most incredible trip of my life at the time. We had so much fun and really bonded that week. It’s a massive piece of our relationship.

Each year since we’ve taken a similar trip – flying into the cheapest city out West and just driving! It’s something we’re both wildly passionate about and something we talk about endlessly. We flew into Los Angeles back in April of this year for our “4th annual road trip” but as always, as soon as landing in Cleveland, one of us was mumbling about wanting to go back. I figured our big trips for the year were done, that maybe we’d take a small trip somewhere before the end of the year but certainly wasn’t expecting to be heading out on the road again like that any time soon.

Then one day, all of a sudden, we were planning a second trip. A bit shorter than our previous ones but it didn’t matter to me. I was just excited to get out again, and explore somewhere new. For this trip we flew into Denver, Colorado and promptly made our way into Utah where we’re wandered around kind of aimlessly for two full days. Utah is just… a hidden treasure. Truly one of the most underrated states but more on that another day! I have lots of posts from this trip coming in the next few weeks, promise!

On that very first trip in 2014 our first stop was a little old ghost town in Cisco, Utah. We had landed in Denver in the evening, grabbed our rental, and started heading toward Utah immediately. We stopped at a rest area, caught some z’s and started driving again slightly before sunrise. Once we got moving again I opened the Roadside America app and found that there was a ghost town coming up. The timing would get us there right at sunrise. Well, Cisco ended up being the most incredible start to our trip. I wrote this post about it, where I rambled on about how special of a stop and trip it was to me.

Since we flew into Denver this time, and we were heading into Utah, Cisco was once again on our map. I was super stoked to revisit, re-shoot, and just revel in this place that I had built up in my mind so much since the last time I was there. After eating the best BBQ of my life, we arrived in our beloved ghost town right at sunset. The timing could not have been more perfect. I was a little bit stressed we’d get there after dark but considering what was about to happen next, I’m sure Jeff was even more stressed.

The second he put the car in park, I dashed out of the car and started running toward a building I want to shoot. When we’re short on time Jeff and I usually head our seperate ways to get the shots we want instead of wandering around together. After a few minutes he joins me and asks if I want to get a shot of the two of us together. On the plane I had the brilliant idea that we’d take a nice photo together in each ghost town we visited on the trip since Utah is just littered with them and they were going to be our main stops. So, I thought nothing of it. I was just glad he remembered because I was so excited it hadn’t crossed my mind to slow down a second for a photo together.

cisco, utah, ghost town rainbow cloud

Sidenote here – Look at that cloud! IT IS GOSH DARN RAINBOW. That cloud was in the sky as we were about to pull into Cisco. We both freaked out. Neither of us had ever seen anything like that. It’s apparently called cloud iridescence. Little did I know that fifteen minutes later I’d be getting proposed to. How’s that for some cheesy rom-com material?!

I take direction as he tries to line me up for the shot, he runs over to join me, and immediately kisses me. I’m thinking “Oh, Okay? This isn’t really the shot I had in mind but cool.” Then before I know it he’s on one knee and I’m ugly crying. I don’t remember anything that he said, I just remember looking at the ring and nodding my head ethusiastically. It was such a blur. I was shaking like a leaf and just wanted to hug him forever, it felt like the only way I could stand up. Then he’s like “By the way, I got that on video!” and I sob some more.

http://thedaintysquid.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Proposal.mp4

 

As much as I’m into super non-traditional wedding stuff, something that was really important to me was that Jeff ask my dad’s permission. I was a bit worried that he didn’t have the chance because my dad was actually in the hospital the week before we left on this trip. Jeff revealed that he had taken a half day off work and visited my dad in the hospital to ask. This made me cry so hard I nearly threw up. Y’all I was already a cry baby but this last week I’ve been a wreck. I didn’t think it’d effect me this much!

So yeah, the man of my dreams asked me to marry him at one of our favorite spots in the entire world. It’s definitely not everyone’s picture of a romantic location but there isn’t anywhere that could be more ~us~. I am so happy and so damn excited to have a lifetime of adventures with this sweet man. It’s been just over a week and I basically haven’t stopped crying or looking at the shiny new addition to my ring finger yet. Life is good.

PS. You’ll have to excuse any typos or sentences that are just plain out of order. It’s hard to type when you can’t tell the dang story without crying.
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a few of my favorite headstones

by Kaylah Stroup November 2, 2017

angel of death victorious, haserot, crying angel, headstone, cleveland, lakeview

The Haserot Angel. Lake View Cemetery. Cleveland, OH

 

Last year around this time I shared a list of my favorite cemeteries but some recent awesome finds have prompted me to start a list of my favorite headstones. Over the years I’ve been to tons of cemeteries. So many headstones look exactly a like, and as cheesy as it sounds, they just don’t make them like they used to. There are definitely exceptions though! So, I present to you, a list containing a few of my favorites I’ve seen made the journey to see in person…

▴ Giant lion

Lake View Cemetery. Cleveland, OH
I’ve spent hours wandering around Lake View Cemetery but only recently noticed this lion. When I turned around and spotted him for the first time he actually startled me. I think part of his appeal is that he just seems out of place.

weird headstone

▴ Specimens

State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery
This one had been on my radar for years before I finally took the trip to go see it. I still can’t believe it’s real. Specimens in this case are most likely parts that had been removed during standard procedures and kept to study at the hospital. (Tumors, gallbladders, kidneys, etc) After a number of years it’s easy to imagine they’d probably have a pretty large collection of spare parts that they didn’t know what to do with. I guess it’s also in the realm of possibilities that it’s something a lot more sinister… Either way, this definitely ranks among my top three! The State of Ohio Asylum for the Insane Cemetery contains quite a few interesting headstones, definitely check out this post if you’d like to see more.

▴ Be of Good Courage

Bonaventure Cemetery. Savannah, GA
I don’t know what it is about this headstone but it first caught my eye back in 2014. I loved it immediately. When I returned to Savannah a few years later, though I had completely forgotten about it, I managed to end up stumbling upon it yet again in the massive cemetery. There’s just something about it… Find more photos of Bonaventure here.

▴ Skull with wings

Granary Burying Ground. Boston, MA
This isn’t so much about this particular headstone but in general, headstones with skulls on them are my favorite. It wasn’t until I visited Granary Burying Ground in Boston that I saw my first one. It’s fairly common on older headstones found in the North Eastern portion of the US but definitely not something you see around Ohio. I think I’m drawn to them because they seem like something that would be a Halloween decoration, something you’d see in cartoons, not something that is on a real headstone.

▴ Tom’s collage

Riverside Cemetery. Cleveland, OH
This is easily the weirdest headstone I have ever laid my eyes on. The first time I spotted it I took enough photos to write a whole post about it… but then I felt weird writing an entire piece about one specific headstone. I still don’t even know what I’m really looking at. It has a little bit of everything on it…

girl in blue, killed by a train, headstone, josephine klimczak

▴ The Girl in Blue

Willoughby Village Cemetery. Willoughby, OH
The Girl in Blue was the very first headstone I ever shared on The Dainty Squid. I remember it being such a huge deal to be blogging about a cemetery. I didn’t know how people would react or if I’d lose my readership because everyone just thought I was a giant weirdo. The post was surprisingly well received and I still catch these photos floating around the internet. Read more about her here.

▴ Corrina Shively

Brown Pet Cemetery. Columbus, OH
Brown Pet Cemetery still remains the only cemetery that has made me cry. It’s filled with incredible memorials. I just think it’s so touching that in a time when photography wasn’t as accessible as it is today that someone got glamour portraits of their kitten done. Check out more photos from my visit here.

▴ Seldom Seen Slim

Ballarat Cemetery. Ballarat, CA (a ghost town!)
“Me lonely? Hell, no! I’m half coyote and half wild burro!” That has to be one of the most interesting epitaphs out there!

▴ Unknown man died eating library paste

Goldfield Pioneer Cemetery. Goldfield, NV
Of course this makes the list! I mean, c’mon! The story of this one is that a homeless man was wondering the streets, looking for something to eat. In the library’s trash he found some book paste which at the time was a mixture of flour, water, and alum. Large quantities of alum are toxic when consumed, especially on an empty stomach. You can find more photos of the unique headstones in this cemetery here.

▴ Home for the Friendless

Erie Cemetery. Erie, PA
The Home for the Friendless was a home for orphaned or unwanted children in Erie, PA. (It was later renamed the Sarah Reed Children’s Home, thankfully.) I’m a bit more immune these days to the not so PC names certain institutions used to have but I’ll never forgot the complete shock I felt when I stumbled upon this one for the first time.

lilly e gray, salt lake city cemetery

▴ Victim of the Beast 666

Salt Lake City Cemetery. Salt Lake City, UT
If you’re having trouble reading the above headstone, it reads ‘Lilly E. Gray June 6, 1881 – Nov. 14, 1958 victim of the beast 666’ There are lots of interpretations that seem to just be made up by folks looking to write a good story but no one really knows for sure why her headstone says this as the only information on her death, straight from her obituarty, reads that she died of natural causes.

Laurel Grove Cemetery. Savannah, GA

Other notable spots;

  • Rehoboth Mission Cemetery. So much character packed in one small cemetery!
  • Old Sheldon Church Ruins. Cemetery, Spanish moss + ruins!
  • Tonopah Cemetery. Next to a clown motel, need I say more?
  • Wayne County Home Cemetery. No names, just numbers.

Mound View Cemetery. Mount Vernon, OH
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Eastern Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup September 26, 2017

abandoned, cemetery, graveyard, louisville, overgrown cemetery

A few weekends back Jeff and I took a short weekend trip to Louisville, Kentucky. We had no real reason to go. I mean, not that we ever do when we go somewhere. We just wanted to check out somewhere that we had never been together. Our plans were basically completely open, we just wanted to explore.

While doing research on the area I stumbled across a few mentions of Eastern Cemetery. The golden word ~ abandoned ~ was used. I quickly searched for some photos but nothing struck me as too interesting. It just looked slightly overgrown. I’ve seen plenty of cemeteries online that look overgrown only for me to show up to a pristine cemetery. Not to mention, some kind folks have been working on cleaning up the cemetery for a few years now. My thought was that the chances it was actually abandoned or anything like Mount Moriah were slim.

I added it to my list of things I might be interested in checking out if we found nothing else and basically forgot about it. We leisurely made our way down to Louisville, checked into the hotel, rested a bit, and decided to head out into the city to explore. Using the FindAGrave app I noted that the cemetery was super close to our hotel, and then checking on the Geocaching app I saw that there were two caches. Sooo maybe it wouldn’t be too great of a cemetery but it was close and I’d be able to geocache while we were there. Might as well check it out…

eastern cemetery, louisville, kentucky, abandoned abandoned cemetery, overgrown cemetery

‘Jeff, I’m going to be a while. It’s okay if you just wanna sit in the car with the air on.’ was essentially what I tried to spit out as I slung my camera bag on my back and nearly jumped out of the car. Eastern Cemetery was overgrown beyond what I could have ever imagined. Not only that, it’s SO much bigger than I was picturing.

28 acres, only 16,000 graves but around 138,000 documented bodies! Pauper’s graves account for some of that but in 1989 it was revealed that the owners had been reusing purchased grave sites. Bodies had been buried on top of other bodies, others were excavated for reuse, and medical cadaver parts were buried in-mass. Human bones were found in inappropriate places including a tool box, a glove compartment, and perhaps most disturbingly of all, a fast food bag. When this information was brought to light the cemetery fell into disrepair.

Friends of Eastern Cemetery is a non-profit volunteer group working to restore Eastern Cemetery. Since March of 2013 they’ve been picking up trash, and doing their best to maintain the grounds. They’ve even held workshops on how to properly restore headstones so the volunteers can help, not harm, the aging stones. Weather permitting, they meet each Sunday April through November. There is only so much a small group of volunteers can do though, maintaining such a large area is a huge task.

I don’t even know that these photos properly show how incredibly overgrown the cemetery was on the day I visited. I fell more than once, stepped very carefully but still managed to trip on a handful of completely hidden headstones, and left covered in burs. (To be honest, I’m mother nature’s BFF, I somehow always manage to get covered in burs wherever we go.) There were spots in the cemetery where the grass was up past my waist!

I am so glad we stopped, and that I got to experience Eastern Cemetery. It was incredibly beautiful. I could have easily wandered around for hours and hours.
xoxo

More from Louisville – Jerry’s Junk.

Another beautiful abandoned cemetery – Mount Moriah.

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About Me

About Me

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I'm Kaylah! Renovating a 150-year-old home in Northeast Ohio. Likely found in my garden.

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