Time to kick off another season of Cemetery Sundays, in which I roam the grounds of local Northeastern Ohio (and sometimes beyond) cemeteries, camera in hand, to document the beautiful and ornate tombstones and mausoleums contained in each.
Please visit this page to see photos from all my previous travels.
Back in July, I was in Steubenville, Ohio with a few hours to spare and decided to grab my camera and go wander the expansive grounds of Union Cemetery.
(Now truth be told, I was at this cemetery some 14 years prior. The grounds served as a beautiful backdrop to my and Mrs. Highbury's wedding photos! Yes, we along with our entire wedding party drove through the grounds and had photos taken throughout. Amazing photos if I do say so myself! But I digress...)
On a cloudy and hazy afternoon, I parked inside the gate, grabbed my camera and started snapping. There is an abundance of incredibly detailed and ornate old tombstones in this cemetery, so it was slow going. I stopped at almost every tombstone to snap a pic. After 2 hours of meandering, the skies opened up and forced me to call it a day, barely just half way through the cemetery. I would have to return the following day to document the rest, which turned out to be an even greater treasure. Here are the photos from day one, complete with a little cemetery ghost story for the Halloween season!!
This cemetery contains a large plot of local Union soldiers (hence the name) buried here, each of which had small American flag markers placed at their graves during the 4th of July holiday.
It was an odd juxtaposition of old, desolate tombstones right next to the modern stadium of the now-infamous Steubenville Big Red football team (which can be seen in the distance).
The faded lamb on the top of this stone is representative of a child's grave.
I've never seen a tombstone as interesting as this. A unique handshake between a mother and a father at this family plot.
And now we get to Union Cemetery's ghost story. Upon researching this cemetery, I came upon this video that tells the story of the "Fighting McCooks," a family of Union soldiers buried in Union Cemetery. Reports state that at dawn, the ghost of one of the McCooks have been seen chasing the ghost of a Confederate soldier through an old hollow. I found the McCook Trail, an immediately went down to investigate...
And while I didn't see any ghosts, I did come upon a family of deer. Either way, an interesting little story to add to the legend and lore of the grounds.
Be sure to stop back next Sunday to see the photos from my second day at this cemetery. More incredible tombstones, a grouping of stunning mausoleums and a famous statue created to the memory of a dog...
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