Cemetery Archives - On Davis Time

On October 13, 2012 my daughter and I had the pleasure of a photo outing with my friends Kiah and Brian, and a newbie I call Dynamite.

Elmwood Historic Cemetery in Detroit, MI was our photographic destination, and we joined an official tour group to learn more about this beautiful place. We probably should have just explored by ourselves, because I wasn’t a very good student/tour member. I kept getting distracted (Squirrel!) and so had to google the information about Elmwood after the fact. Today Google is my friend.

Originally established in 1846, Elmwood Cemetery is now 86 acres of beautiful rolling hills and gentle streams. Stones and mausoleums reflect dates from the 1800s until now, and it is very interesting to note the trends of the times for marking burial sites. From wrought iron barriers, to ornately carved marble, stone statues and artistic stones, I spent my time primarily photographing details. And my fellow photographers of course.

Shooting me, shooting you?

After the tour we decided that we should explore on our own. The guard warned us that the gates close at 4pm, and if we were not out then we would be locked in the cemetery. Great.

Squirrel!

Did we lose track of time? Of course we did. We arrived at the gates just as they were being locked. I blame this on Kiah. Why? I don’t know. Mostly because he is trouble. Thankfully the guard took pity on us and opened them back up even though it was 4:05. Not sure how I would have explained to my husband that my daughter and I were locked in a cemetery with three strange men. Yes, I know them – doesn’t mean they aren’t strange.

All kidding aside, a great outing and fun time photographing a beautiful place. Thanks guys!!!

More Squirrels!

Clockwise from upper left: Dynamite, Kiah, Riley and me, Brian

Note: this article was originally posted on my photography blog in April of 2010 (original post April 18, 2010):

I was invited by a friend and fellow photog Brian Lantis to visit and photograph an old cemetery in Chelsea, MI. I worked hard to find some history and / or a story on the cemetery, but either there isn’t much on the web or my search skills are lacking as I was unable to find anything. Brian indicated that the cemetery is called “Old St. Mary’s” or “Mount Calvary”, and many of the graves were moved to Mt. Olivet when it opened.

My Riley came with us to explore, and before we explored the cemetery itself, we walked into the wooded expanse behind it to see an old car that Brian knew was there. This ended up being Riley’s favorite part of the trip – a neglected little piece of history out in the middle of nowhere. Who knew you once had to roll up car windows by hand with those weird little handles? LOL

After investigating every detail of the car, we went back to the cemetery, where Riley was fascinated by the writing on the stones, the way that the stones have changed over the years and the fact that some are so weathered that you can no longer see any writing at all.

This cemetery is certainly not forgotten, as there are US flags on the graves of veterans and a few stones have been replaced with newer versions. However, there is also evidence of vandals in the form of broken and toppled stones, as well as cans and other trash in the wooded area beyond the cemetery where it appears that kids have probably been “hanging out”.

As the sun lowered in the sky, I tried to add sunflare to my shots and to capture this wonderful place as it appeared to me. I wanted to photograph the site in a meaningful and respectful way. My images do not do this incredibly beautiful place justice, but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy…

If you like history and enjoyed this post, please also check out these oldies but goodies Michigan Central Station, May 24, 2009 and St Louis, January 17, 2010. It’s not Chelsea, but still cool 🙂

Elmwood Historic Cemetery, Detroit

Mount Calvary Rewind