Riverside Cemetery
In one of my first blogs I discussed the term Taphophile, which is someone who likes to explore cemeteries. If you haven't had a chance to read it, be sure to take a look.
Cemeteries are not only a resting place for our loved ones, they also hold much historical information. They can be a site of paranormal activity and also a guide to the society and lifestyle of the people in your community.
Today I want to take a look at one of the cemeteries that we like to visit. This Cemetery also happens to be the resting place of some of my soulmates' ancestors. Let's journey to Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina.
Founded on August 4th 1885 by the Asheville Cemetery Company, Riverside Cemetery was built as a garden style Cemetery that would serve as a burial ground and public park.
Located in Asheville's historic Montford district, Riverside has over 87 acres of landscaped cemetery grounds overlooking the French Broad River.
The cemetery is lined with massive oaks and poplars as well as evergreens, dogwoods, mimosas, azaleas, rhododendron and laurels.
70 years after founding Riverside, the Asheville Cemetery Company sold it to the current owners, The City of Asheville. The city went to work making improvements, opening more areas and paving over 3.5 miles of roads that were located within the cemetery walls.
Riverside is described as a place of beauty, where you will find families visiting loved ones. You will find people walking the roads through the cemeteries, taking pictures along the way. If you are visiting, you can catch one of the historical tours offered and learn much about the area and the people who are resting there.
Some of the notable people who have been laid to rest at Riverside include writers Thomas Wolfe and O Henry, North Carolina governor's Zebulon Vance and Locke Craig, and my soulmate's ancestor, architect Richard Sharpe Smith.
There are many unique areas of the cemetery that you can visit. For those interested in the history of the World Wars, there includes a plot that has more than 175 veterans of World War 1 and 2, and a plot with 17 German seamen who died while interned here during World War 1.
Asheville has a large Jewish population and another area of the grounds contains the Beth-Ha-Tephila Jewish Cemetery.
Be careful walking into what may appear as empty fields, as there are many unmarked pauper graves in the cemetery.
Being someone who is interested in the paranormal, I want to go on one of the haunted tours of the cemetery. Having over 13,000 people buried there, It is said that people have heard gunshots and cannon fire, seen ghosts of confederate soldiers, and heard children laughing and playing. Some consider Riverside to be the most haunted cemetery in North Carolina.
Researching my ancestry, I have found that there is much information to be gained from visiting cemeteries. I can walk through the cemeteries and just read the markers and think about what life was like for those people when they lived in this world.
Being a writer, I am drawn to each story that every person resting there has to tell. What is their history, where is their family and how did they end up there? What regrets do they have, and would they have done anything different during the Era they lived in?
There are many voices there crying out to have their story told. I want to tell their story. I want to tell the stories of my ancestors. What advice do they have for us? I will be telling some of their stories in future blogs as I visit them and become more acquainted with them.
I am sure there is a cemetery in your area that is similar to Riverside. Take some time to visit it. Learn about the people who have lived in your community. Tell their stories. Maybe some of them have not been visited in some time and are looking to see someone stop and say hello. You may even learn something about yourself while you are there.
There is much to discover and take away from touring cemeteries. Our society has programmed us that they are a bad place, a scary place, but they are not. They are a place of peace, rest, beauty and a place to journey forward with our relatives.
I am going to continue to journey to cemeteries including Riverside to discover more about those who lived in my community and discover more about me.
I hope you will journey too.
Blessings
By Michael Walters
The Ancestor's Fire
Writing the voices of the unheard
Sources
Cityofasheville.github
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