Memphis Sunday Walk-About: Elmwood Cemetery Self-Tour, Part 2
Because One Post Wasn't Enough
It’s that weird overcooked boiled egg shade of yellow-green outside. The pups and I are looking at a third day of heavy storms, or portions thereof. On the first day, the wind, hail, and sideways rain landed all three of us in the walk-in closet, our safe space. Moments before, I had been sitting on the patio observing the ground truth of the weather. Skies were much darker than I had seen them in daylight hours and the wind was fierce. The light on the light pole blinked on and it wasn’t even noon. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a solid golden light flashing in the deep green monkey grass. Fairies! Then another wee light flashed, and two more. Lightning bugs! We have been seeing them for a few weeks out in the dog walk area. Every single one makes my inner child squeal with delight. I wanted to move closer, to sit and observe their activities and forget about the weather. No such luck. The panicked look of the radar-generated dude forced me to take cover.
I have learned to duck my head when the battleship gray clouds roll eastward across the Mississippi River and make their way to us before landing in Memphis proper. Aye, mind the fringe-dwellers. This can be a wet and wild place to live weatherwise, that’s a fact. In these moments, I just hunker down and grab a real hold-in-your-hands book and settle in for the duration. Consequently, I avoid those tasks that require screen time, like watching videos and reading links to add to this second post chock full of photographs. I have been delayed in getting part two to you, but I will do my best before today’s thunder rolls.
The story of our visit to Elmwood Cemetery is included in Part One of my two-part series on this location. I quickly reached my limit length on that post but still had so many amazing photos to share. I am including a few more here, as well as links to more information about Elmwood Cemetery. Enjoy this interesting article from the I Love Memphis Blog about the widely varied cast of characters who are buried at Elmwood Cemetery, the oldest active cemetery in Memphis.
You can find my photo-heavy Google maps review of this location here. 75,000 graves, including those of veterans of every American war, mayors, senators, madams, outlaws, governors, and people both famous and ordinary from all walks of life nearly fill this Victorian garden-style 172-year-old cemetery, with room for around 10,000 more. 1400 unidentified remains of some of the 5000 citizens who died during the Yellow Fever epidemic when more than 50 burials a day took place are remembered here in a special section.
Cris Hardaway of The Best Times, a weekly PBS program for folks over fifty, offers an interview with Kimberly McCollum, Executive Director of Elmwood Cemetery in the “History at Rest” section of the The History You Did Not Know & Elmwood Cemetery episode. Her fascinating interview includes a very nice video tour of the cemetery that begins at the 15:35 time stamp. I loved this walk-through and you will too, if history and cemeteries are your thing.
Dan I have both said a return visit, or many, will happen while we are stationed in this area. We are sure to miss some of the 80 acres of monuments but we want to do some more exploring when the time is right.
If you would like to find out more about Martha Kelly’s three granite columaria located outside the chapel (as shown below), do so through this link to this article about her creative process and inspiration. I love them!
As a reminder, expand the photos if you would like to see more detail. I try to keep them small for our wandering and rural buddies who may have low signal and therefore struggle to load them.
Rare sunlight has switched on momentarily so I will take this opportunity to bid you a fond farewell so I can lead the pups out for a bit of pre-storm bladder relief. The book I will be snuggling up with this afternoon’s squall is West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. I am LOVING this great trade at the Little Free Library in Harbor Town. Score!!
I loved the cover shot of this statue but it was too large. I had to share it because I am stubborn that way. Spooky-cool is she.
Y’all don’t forget those umbrellas,
Brenda Cordray
The Desert Rose
