Meade Cemetery

 We visited the Meade Cemetery located on 26 Mile Rd. just east of North Avenue on 4/15/2015. (Yes, it has been almost 2 years since we visited our last cemetery - Ooops.)

This has been the most interesting of cemeteries to date but you might not think so from the photos. As me and the Boy were wandering though I noticed a name that I suspected was kin to me.  So I shot the pictures and checked when we got home. Sure enough they were.

 

You see this guy here? He is the Boy's Great-great-great-great Grandfather.

  

 And this woman was William's (1825) wife.  She is the Boy's G,G,G,Great-Grandma.

 

This is William Sr.'s eldest son August.

  

This is William Jr's stone - The second son of William Sr. (1825)

 

 

 Minnie was William Jr.,s Wife.

  

This was William Jr.'s first child (I think) but he only lived 6 years.

 

I really wish I could say how August fits into the family picture but my genealogical study has not divined this yet.  

So my mom was not aware that we had kin in this cemetery so I feel like I struck gold.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery

 This cemetery is tucked away on Hall road between some modern business buildings. We visited it as a family on 9/13/2013.  It;s very old Lutheran place, all of the stones are in German.

 The stones are old looking.

 I think if I had a contest to enter I would enter this photo.

And some are tucked in among the growth of bushes.

Macomb Center Cemetery

This cemetery is almost unnoticeable.  There is not a sign and you barely realize it is there. It is located on the dirt portion of 24 Mile road and I just happened past it while they were doing construction on 23 Mile Rd.  It is quite old but some of the grave stones indicate that it has not been forgotten.  We visited this cemetery on 8/13/2013.

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Of course the Boy wants a picture of the veteran with the flag. While I am not sure I suspect that I know some of the lineage of this Foss family.

The Boy wanted his picture with this marker. He thought that there was someone's pet dog buried beneath it.

And this grave stone was just down-right interesting.

Union Cemetery

We visited the Union Cemetery on Fairchild Rd.on 8/17/2013. This was a nice little place. It was tucked in behind a church that appeared to not be used very much. There was a golf course behind it so the place wasn't completely dead.  (Snort, snort)

 

This was huge marker From the size of it I expect that this is somehow related to the Crittenton Hospital folks but unless there was a variation on the spelling of their name I was mistaken. 

 

Here's a long shot of the Boy with a stone that had a marble ball on its top.  Again, I like these sort of matkers.

 

I don't know where he picked it up but he always notices the grave of the veterans and wants to show honor to them. I'll admit that it makes me a little proud of him for this.

Bruce-Armada Cemetery

 

The boy and I visited this cemetery on July 20, 2013 (Yeah, really, it's now 4/24/2015 and I have no idea how I dropped this ball for almost 2 years!) We had bought Subway and had a real nice picnic by a couple of the graves in the shade.

While there was not a proper mausoleum here there was this little one entombing a couple.  I can only imagine how much this cost.

 

I don't know why but I really like the granite balls.

I was impressed with the size of this stone and the fact that the name on it was that of Noah Webster.  While I am pretty sure that it's not that Noah Webster it is still kinda cool to be photographed with it.

 

And at the end of the day this is the toy that my boy liked best.  It worked very well.  (Get it? I said that it worked "well". (Snort))

Willow Grove Cemetery

Willow Grove Cemetery 2013

The Willow Grove Cemetery is one of my favorite places on earth - And I mean that literally.  I spend a lot of time there as it is in the middle of the locations that I have to travel to for work and I often park there to take short naps or just to rest.  Many people find my fascination with cemeteries odd (creepy more like it) but they really are a peaceful place if you are not superstitious (which I am not) and Willow Grove is the most peaceful in my experience.

At each cemetery that we visit I ask the boy what he likes best about that particular one and he actually said to me (and I am not exaggerating at all here) he said that he really liked this one because he thought it would be a good place to "take a nap".

Willow Grove Cemetery 2013

Willow Grove has two sections in it: The front and the rear.  The rear section is the newer section and it is accessed at the rear over an old bridge crossing a drainage creek.  In my many times resting here I have seen deer, wild turkey, gophers, squirrels, and a few other things that I cannot recall at this moment walking along this ditch.  In June there is a very nice section that has wild strawberries growing on it, we missed it this year but we can't wait to get there next year.  And yeah, we don't have a problem eating wild strawberries - Even if it grows on someone's grave. :-o

2013

The boy is pictured standing on a very old section on the concrete edge of a family plot.  It is built into a small hill which gives it a little bit of a majestic feeling.

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Here he was resting in the shade sitting on the concrete edge of another old family plot.

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However, the rest was short lived as he found a stick and a branch that begged to be fussed with.  There is always something fun to do when you are only seven. ;-)

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There were plenty of old grave markers to see and take a look at but the boy is most fascinated with the markers that need discovering.

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While Willow Grove does not have a mausoleum it does have plenty of character as well as much to discover. 

While I do not have a picture of it, there is a section with little stones that have just a name and a single date on each.  There are quite a few of them and lie in no real particular order.  When we went through this section I asked him if he knew what they were.  He thought for a minute and said to me "They're babies."  

We talked about how many babies only survive a few hours out of mommy's tummy, how some are born dead, and still how others live only a few months.  I am impressed with his thoughtfulness as we consider the miracle of our lives and the fact that we were the ones who lived.

If you are ever in Armada and feel the need for a nap, we suggest getting over to the Willow Creek Cemetery - there's room for you.  But all we ask is that you keep your hands off the wild strawberries.

Bates Cemetery

2012

I had driven past this little cemetery hundreds if not thousands of times through the course of my life but never once had I a reason to visit it.  So when the day came that The Boy and I were to visit I was really looking forward to it.

And low and behold look who we found!

Yes my friends, it is John Bates' wife.

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Ok, so this is Nancy and not Anna but still, it was John Bates' wife's grave. 

Anywho, Bates is the namesake of this Cemetery so I found it interesting.

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This cemetery was surrounded by Lilac trees/bushes and it was June!  The whole place smelled terrific and all the rain that we had this spring made the place green and lush.

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There were interesting monuments to honor those who are buried here.

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The Boy was very interested in the monuments with the flags.  Somewhere he really learned to honor the stones with them as he had learned that they were veterans that had served our country. I know that he does not yet understand the concepts of freedom, duty, and honor but somehow he has an innate gut feeling about how to respect these ideas.  He saw the flag laying on the ground next to the stone above and knelt down to fix it, then he saluted it all on his own.

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Our goal was to look for the mausoleum in each cemetery that we visit but the Bates' Cemetery did not have one. 

We were also looking for the most interesting aspect of each cemetery and The Boy really liked the hidden grave markers in the overgrowth.

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He enjoyed crawling through the brush in order to locate and view the hidden stones.

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After the many hundreds of times that I have passed by this little place, I am glad that we spent a few minutes to explore it - Out in this country feel setting with its hidden gems.