Riverview

riverview cemetery dawn
THE RIVERVIEW CEMETERY COMPANY was incorporated by a group of local businessmen on December 29, 1892 with a mission to establish a cemetery “near and convenient” to the City of Charlottesville and properly ornamented with “trees, shrubbery or flowers.” In February 1892 the Company made its first land purchase of 27.95 acres from the Charlottesville Land Company for $6,987.50. Riverview continued to amass small quantities of land over the years from neighboring lot owners, residents and the Albemarle Golf Club on its western border. Local residents Henry Clay Marchant, Mrs. M.J. Burgess and J.S. Barksdale purchased the first burial plots on December 6, 1894. Seventeen more were sold between 1894 and 1899, several to board members and officers of the Cemetery Company.–Lara Day Kozak

funerary practice

Futenma
Much custom involved with how to treat the dead. I can’t read hiragana. Found out months later the sign reads:
“If you trash garbage here, you are sentenced to five years’ penal servitude or
pay a fine of ten million yen under the law.
Moushi Hanashiro Family”


Arlington Cemetery
There are no signs in Arlington dictating behavior. We were dressed down by grave police for our behavior. The self appointed monitor accused us of being disrespectful. On the contrary, this is how we honor our dead.

in praise of the dead

snag in Cook forest
Standing dead trees are an important resource for the living.

But a dead tree, contrary to popular perception, has a plus side. Called a snag, it plays host to a variety of insects, fungi, spiders, and other small native creatures of the woodland; a variety of mammals, including flying and gray squirrels, raccoons, and others; and, surprisingly, about eight-five species of birds in North America. In a forest, at least, maturity and deadwood are relative terms.–Robert Halma, “The Lehigh Valley: A Natural and Environmental History”

 
Excellent article on dead trees, see: “Praise the Dead: The Ecological Values of Dead Trees” by George Wuerthner

Bass fishing in the afterlife?

casket display
Big box stores have not gotten into the long box business. Around 7000+ people die everyday in the US, is that not enough of a market to interest the kings of retail?
Selling caskets would be a downer, depressing the sale of premium outdoor gas grills?


Micropterus salmoides
What message to send off with the loved one?
When this purchase comes it is not an easy day. Bypass this store, green burial is an option.

RIP

hook hallway
last edition of the Hook

Spencer and McNair
Goodle days. The long goodbye.


out of chaos, a product that you could hold in your hand


recognized by peers


where will they resurface, what will they write?


Enduring thanks to journalists Lisa Provence, Courteney Stuart, Dave McNair and Hawes Spencer