The cemetery

Last Friday I visited a cemetery. It popped up on Google maps as being in a path I hadn't taken yet and I was curious to see if I could visit it and what one might look like in NL. I'm very glad I went. I was so pleasantly surprised by it that I cut my visit short and suggested to hubs that we visit it the next day.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, and I'm not much of a wordsmith, but I will try to paint a picture that accurately describes it.

It was by no means a large cemetery. You could probably see every grave in about 45 minutes, walking very slowly.

Each plot was rectangular in shape and included some form of marker. Many markers were flat stone pieces, the length and width of the grave itself with the names and dates of birth and death for the person (people) contained below. Others were headstones in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. I will go into detail about them later. And yet others were more garden bed that grave with smooth stones, flowers or even small trees. Now, here I am making an assumption about what is actually underneath the ground, for in some instances there were multiple names listed on the marker. I wasn't sure if more than 1 person was buried underneath the marker, if they were just ashes, or if it was simply a marker and NOBODY was buried there. (I have found websites that indicate burial plots in NL are only leased for 10-20 years due to the limited available land and the ever increasing number of the deceased. If this is true, the markers seemed to be rather ornate and costly for something that would only be there 20 years.)

The plots were spaced evenly with paths of small gravel clearly marked between the rows.

The tombstones/headstones, as stated above, were quite an array of artwork. 1 headstone was Snoopy on his doghouse. I saw another that had Garfield the cat etched into the stone. 1 was a lovely shade of cobalt blue. Buddah appeared at a few of the graves. Another grave included a small, dark gray obelisk with the figure of a woman on top her arms flung behind her, her head tossed back, chest out, and the word "Vrij" ("free") the only word on the obelisk. Others were clear glass with poems or other kind words etched upon them. Some had photos of the deceased included on the headstone. One headstone that was clear and included a photo had words that said something to the effect "When a boat disappears over the horizon, it is not gone, it's just not visible any more".  Many of the flat markers included an indentation to hold a flower pot.

Other than the tombstones, it looked more like a park than a cemetery. The artistic nature of the headstones definitely added to the impression. There were benches to sit on and trees and bushes providing shade and color. Some graves had windchimes hanging above if they were fortunate enough to be located under a tree. And spaced throughout the cemetery were stands holding bright yellow watering cans, trowels and green plastic cones for holding flowers.

I'll have to check out other cemeteries to see if this is customary or if it was a just a gem tucked away in the city.