|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
|
|
1835 map surfaces for burial plots at home site |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Tuesday, 10 May 2005 |
By JACK BAESSLER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
For weeks, developers and archaeologists have been mystified by century-old remains found on the grounds of the former Children's Services campus in Maumee.
Now, they may have a clue.
Archaeologists were given a copy of a 1835 map this weekend that marks a burial ground in generally the same area where more than two dozen remains have been found on land being converted into a residential development.
The plat map shows plans for a town - Port Miami - that was never developed. It labels a burial ground near what would become the former Miami Children's Home, 2500 River Rd., Maumee.
The map was found Saturday by Judy Justus, a Perrysburg resident who is president of the guild of the Wolcott House, a fund-raising group for the Maumee historical residence that sponsors an annual lecture series.
She brought it to the excavation site the same day.
"I collect everything, everything having to do with the Maumee area," she said. "I have about 80 maps. I even have a map of Virginia that shows when the Ohio Valley was part of Virginia."
What the map means is unclear. Did a cemetery go there? Or was it just part of the unfulfilled plan for Port Miami? Other sources have indicated a cemetery was in the area as well.
"I don't know if it was actually platted out to include an existing burial ground people were using or was a design plan," said J. Michael Pratt, director of the Center for Historic and Archaeology at Heidelberg College.
He is leading an excavation of the graves, with the intent to move the remains elsewhere for reburial.
Seven graves have been found in recent days, bringing to 26 the number of interments discovered. The graves were found last month as builders began work on the development. That work has been halted.
Initially, Mr. Pratt thought the excavation would take only days and uncover a few private burials that were probably about 100 years old or perhaps older. But teams have worked almost every day since April 22.
"There is not a lot of room for a whole lot of graves," Mr. Pratt said. "I think we are probably near the end of it."
Mr. Pratt declined to speculate whether better research by the developers - or the county, which once owned the land - would have turned up evidence of the cemetery.
"Cemeteries that are not well marked get lost," he said. "It is not that uncommon. Private cemeteries go out of knowledge as relatives of those people pass on."
Property deeds don't often give a complete history of land being sold or transferred to new owners, he said.
"If you go back to original deeds that mention cemeteries, you can find instances that as the title is rewritten, [a reference to burial plots] gets dropped off," he said.
Eric Beale, a partner with CSB Investors, the development group, said he didn't know why the burial site didn't show up during a title search.
"Obviously, if that had shown up then, it would have been taken care of, just as they are doing now," Mr. Beale said.
Thus far, there has been considerable difficulty dating the graves, Mr. Pratt said. The coffins were made of wood, assembled with machine-cut nails, and lacked coffin hardware such as handles.
"It is probably an indigent cemetery for the poor," he said. A few buttons have been found, but no belt buckles.
"I suspect these people were buried in a shroud," Mr. Pratt said. "None of this stuff is datable other than to say that was the kind of thing you would find in the 19th century.''
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050509/NEWS08/505090388 |
|
Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death's perfect punctuation mark is a smile.” Julie Burchill
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
|
