Looking Past the Graves in Atlanta and Our Own Savannah
Knowing my fondness for old graveyards, a friend sent me this link to local news coverage of Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery. It’s a fun feature series, which includes an online print article, video tours and a humorous piece on some killer epitaphs. (And it’s not even Halloween…)
But that’s the sort of appreciation for these final resting places that I like to see. Unlike Atlanta, here in L.A. the sad truth is that — unless they’re celebrities at Hollywood Forever — the dead don’t get near as much respect. As I’ve noted before, several of our most historic graveyards have long since been paved over. In fact, just over a year ago, the Southland’s first and most notable “pioneer cemetery,” at the end of the Santa Fe Trail near Rosemead, faced similar obliteration.
Oddly, it’s name is Savannah, so I can’t help but wonder if its spirits were sending out subliminal messages to my friend hoping to goad me into revisiting their story. I blogged about the struggle of preservationists to save the burial ground a couple of times on my old, now-defunct Radio Userland blog. Then I, like most Angelenos, simply forgot about the shades of the past residing there.
Now what I wrote has come back to haunt me. It follows the jump… Read more
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