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What's New at Arcadia
Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the 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.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
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!
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 with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture 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.
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Widows Visit Local Cemetery |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Wednesday, 27 June 2007 |
West Virginia - For one Clear Creek woman, the widows she claims to have encountered at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Beckley are not the type that have any business lingering around a cemetery. These grieving widows, you see, have eight legs and a red hourglass shape on their bodies.
Sue Shrewsbury said that she was visiting the resting places of several relatives on two different days during the week leading up to Memorial Day when she had some trouble dislodging one of the vases on the grave markers. When she sought assistance from one of the groundskeepers, Shrewsbury was stunned by his admonition: We have black widow spiders. "That totally freaked me out, being that they already knew and he warned us," she explained.
After the employee retrieved a tool to extricate the vase, Shrewsbury didn't expect the same implement to be used to also pull a living member of one of West Virginia's two poisonous arachnids from the ground.
"He popped it (the vase) out and shone a flashlight and there was one (a spider) in the hole that holds the vase. He told me that 80 percent of the vases that they take out, they find one. Sure enough, there was one in the biggest part of them," said Shrewsbury.
"Of the six (graves visited by Shrewsbury, her mother and sister), four had black-widow spiders in them. It's a serious problem. To me, they know this is a problem, but they're not posting any warnings. Children go there. If you have a child that's sick or has a low immune system, who knows what could happen?"
While Jody G. Harris - area vice president of Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens -- does not dispute Shrewsbury's complaint, he insisted that he has received no such information from anyone else. Indeed, Shrewsbury conceded that the only people with whom she has spoken at the cemetery were a group of groundskeepers. All they offered her, she said, was a can of bug spray.
"We're not aware of any issue, and we would want to know that. We take every complaint as if it is legitimate and work through every one of those," Harris said.
"Bring (any complaint) to us, so we can rectify the issue or meet the need that this family member may have. We're not aware of any problem with black widow spiders. Our primary goal is to serve families. That's what we're here for, and that's what we're interested in doing. We always gladly and positively address all issues and complaints just as we respond to all good things that we always hear from the customers and families that we're privileged to serve."
Shrewsbury recounted that one of the groundskeepers told her that the cemetery employees "know we got plenty of those," referring to the unwanted spiders.
Harris pointed out that people must remember that the vases are in the ground and are exposed to the elements. "We appreciate whatever avenue families feel they need to take to inform us of issues," Harris noted. Shrewsbury views herself as simply a messenger, adding that she has no desire to cause problems for the cemetery or those who frequent the grounds.
"I don't want to cause trouble for Blue Ridge or anyone else, but I don't want anyone to get hurt if I can prevent it," she said. "I spread the word. Anyone you know that you know will be out there, make sure they know. They should at least post a warning sign. From now on, I'm taking a can of spray with me."
Harris urged anyone who encounters a similar problem while there to immediately contact the director of cemetery operations at 256-8608.
http://www.cnpapers.com/index.html
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