Too much to see in Too little time.

Graves for what seems miles long, ones that are as tall as trees and ones that seem to have taken the same number of years as the person resting there. Seeing a cemetery like this or even hearing about it makes some people's skin crawl.
Me? My senses seemed heightened. I look out at all the grave markers and I think about the cool things I can find and the people I can research and find out about their lives. This trip made me so happy and I was running around like a little girl in a candy shop finding new grave markers, seeing some bigger, seeing some that are more interesting.

The landscape of this cemetery is kind of weird. It seems like families just bought a square piece of land and added some stone with their family name carved into it. Then, they were stuff as many grave markers into it as possible. These family plots would be everywhere and seemed to go on for days. The bridge with over the little pond made me feel petite with how much you could see of the cemetery.
The amount of trees were uncountable and they were all beautiful.











Grave Marker Number 1
This is a mausoleum that was so pretty, I jumped out of the car to look at. This is for the Lipinski family. Since it was locked, I was unable to receive any more information, but this is an amazing grave marker.
















Grave Marker Number 2

The next one is a huge masterpiece that had caught my eye and I just had to go look at it for minutes. This is the resting place of Jacob Birt and his wife Ann Elizabeth Birt. They had lived in the 19th century. Jacob had died in 1876 at the age of 65, and his wife died on 1898 at the age of 60.

Grave Marker Number 3

This is probably my favorite marker I have ever seen. I went to it and had been star-strucked. It is a beautiful piece that just took my breathe away. It is a resting place for the Pinckey family. Including the Captain Thomas Pinckney who fought in the American Civil War. The plot also includes his second wife Camilla Scott Pinckney and their daughter, Joesephine. Also in the plot is his first wife Mary Elliot and their daughter.

Visiting this cemetery is something that I think everyone should do. I also love how much history is here and how much each person meant to society. I loved every minute I was there and will go back soon to visit and look more once the bugs are gone.

Scavenger Hunt, Symbols, and Grave Markers, Oh My!

Hurricane Matthew decided to tear through downtown Charleston and surrounding areas. The Bethel United Methodist Church stood strong and was sitting beautifully and proudly when the class took the short trip to the Graveyard Monday October 17.

Brrreaakiing news!! Time for a quick history lesson on this gorgeous church.
This church has always been situated on the corner of Pitt and Calhoun in the downtown district of Charleston South Carolina since 1797.
Since this church is so old, it is known as a National Historic Landmark. It was a church that held blacks and whites for service until 1876 when the black congregation was moved to the older structure and the whites began their services in the new building.
That's it for tonight. See you next time!

 The two pictures to the left and right shows a grave marker found. This is a cradle style grave marker. The person asleep here is Charles H, Muckenfuss. The symbol is a cross through a crown, as pictures in the picture to the right. This symbol means victory and Christianity.

 The next two are the home of Olin B. Davis. Her headstone is a typical headstone with an amazing craving of a rose. The rose symbolizes beauty.

These two are the home of Lousia M. Reeder. She has a mix between a headstone and a ledger. This is because it seems the headstone has fallen. The symbol is a wreath which means victory in death.

This is a grave marker of a headstone. The one resting is Anna Chrietzbng. its symbol of a dove with a wreath means peace

This is the headstone/ledger for William Frederick. His symbol is a tulip which means love and passion

 This is the resting spot for Eva Lee Warren. Her symbol on this masterpiece is a branch of roses which means beauty.

 This is the place where Elizabeth M. Moore sleeps under her die on socket grave. She has an angel on her marker which symbolizes her path to heaven.

 This beautiful headstone which is the home of James F. M. Lord has a beautiful tree on it which symbolizes Woodmen of the World

This is the home of Francis W. Capers who has a lawn marker which the symbol of a cross.  The cross means Christianity.








ALL SYMBOLS WERE FOUND WITH THE HELP OF THIS LINK.

Roses, Real Estate, Orphanages, & Influenza

Its 1900. Emil Schweiger was born. He is the first child of two immigrant parents to be born in the United States. Being that his parents were born in Alsace, a part of France that went between France and Germany for very many years, he spoke both German and French. And then moving to the United States, he then learned English. Once it was time for him to start working, he worked in an iron foundry and worked his way up to being a supervisor and gained an abundance of money. He was a super cheap, so he saved all his money.
 With the money, he had saved up, he bought a bunch of property in Middle Village, Queens, NY. Then, he sold off the property, creating a real estate business. With his workers, he made sure that all of them got equal number of hours to keep their families fed and well during the Great Depression. One of the hobbies he had taken up was gardening and over time he bred his own species ofroses,which were bred in my backyard at my old house in New York.
Sadly, my mom did not receive his gardening skills, and kill them off. He died in 1977 from Colon Cancer and was cremated. His ashes went between my grandmother and my great aunt until my great grandmother died.

Margaret Bach was born in Germany/France in Alsace in 1905 but then moved to the United States. She lived with her family until she was put into an orphanage when her mother died in 1918 due to influenza. She never saw her father after that. Her older sister took her in whenever she married until Margaret married Emil. Due to her being poor for most of life, she treasured things that aren’t normally treasured. She had two tea sets that were very special to her. When she died, it went to my grandmother, and then went to my Aunt. When my Aunt moved down south (like my family) she gave one set to my mother. Margaret died in 1990 with a congestive heart failure. She was buried with Emil’s ashes at a family plot in Farmingdale, NY.

Emil and Margaret lived an amazing life together. They had married in 1920 and moved into beautiful home in Queens, NY and had three children. Walter Schweiger in 1924, had four children, and died in 1997. Elaine Fryer, my grandmother and the amazing woman I was named after, in 1931. She had 6 children including my mother, and she passed in 1995. And finally Laurel Rasmussen in 1945, she has 4 children and is currently living in Bethpage, NY with one of her daughters

The tea set my family owns

my great-grandparents on their wedding day.

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The family plot is at St. Charles cemetery

in Farmingdale,NY and is home to my great-grandparents and my grandparents. Once my great Aunt dies, she will join with her husband’s ashes.