Badass Weekend (Part 2)

Hellloooo!!!

I'm back! I'm sorry this took so long to put up buutttt I've been here, there, and everywhere this week.

So, I've brought yet another cemetery to you. They're just too beautiful not to visit. 

I'm always on the hunt to photograph an amazing, historic cemetery.

When we went to Houston we went to Glenwood Cemetery. It did not let us down.

The cemetery itself was established in 1871 and continues to be an active cemetery. It is comprised of 84 acres!!! We were astounded at the size. We only walked around a tiny portion of it. There are still 18 acres that are completely undeveloped and are for sale if you are wishing to plan ahead ;). It was also the first cemetery in Houston to be professionally designed. 

There were so many beautifully crafted mausoleum and they were so well taken care of! There were signs all over as you were driving through it to direct you towards your destination. The grounds were so neat and clean. Bums me out to think of my local cemetery and the way it's not kept up :(.
The cemetery holds tons of big wigs, if you will, a hollywood starlet, founder of what would become Chevron, last president of the Republic of Texas, and first president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, just to name a couple. 

Statues/sculptures have always fascinated me. How do they make it look like her tunic is flowing? The detail on the hair and wings make it seem that much more alive.

I've been really interested in Freemasons for a few years now, so when I saw this I knew I needed a picture. He was born in 1811! History is so darn fascinating. Also, if you have no idea what i'm talking about please read up on it!

This instantly caught my eye! A mermaid on dolphins?! How amazing. 

We're silly people. He asked for this picture. haha.

A little bike!!

I loved this family plot. They were all labeled with who they were in the family, like the one above. I think I was really drawn to this plot because of the plants that were on the top.                                    

I have to admit that when my times come I don't want anything fancy like this at all. I would rather be cremated and turned into a tree. It can be done! I've seen it. Cemeteries are more for the living anyway.. don't you think? The dead are well dead and don't really know what you put or didn't put on their grave. Just my two cents. 

Either way I think cemeteries are fascinating and will continue to visit them.

Hope you enjoyed!

With all my love,

Pati

Old City Cemetery

Hi Ladies!

Today I wanted to start a little segment that is near and dear to me, called Historical Thursdays.

I'm such a lover of history.. I even got a degree in it. Two to be exact, one in history and one in anthropology.

Nerd. I know. Plus I work at a museum. Oh my! 

I've always been completely infatuated with the past and the people who lived during different time periods.

These next pictures are from a local cemetery in town, called Old City Cemetery.

Not very imaginative, I know, but the tombstones and statues there are beautiful!

The cemetery has been around since the cities founding, the 1850s.

It's so awesome to think that people were walking in the same place I was over 150 years ago!

              

There are soldiers from the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and even the Texas Revolution.

There's children as well as adults buried there.

They died from all types of ailments including yellow fever, gunfights, cholera, and of course

victims of war.

I live on a border town with Mexico. At the very tip of Texas.

This is important because it is very influenced by Mexican culture. It once also had German, Spanish, and French people who lived here, as well as contributed to the city as a whole.

Now it is a very heavily Mexican cultural city.

The flowers they put on the graves show some of the burial practices for those of Mexican decent.

I'm sure some of you know at least a little bit about Day of the Dead. 

It's imagery is amazing and it's practices are very old.

People would traditionally, which some still uphold, spend the whole day at a cemetery with the lost loved ones. They leave offerings and adorn their graves.

Even though some of these graves are taken care of most are not upheld. Evident by the picture of the knocked over cross.

Sad really, there's so many awesome gravestones, crypts, obelisks, and statues that are completely decrepit.

This is an opposite example of upkeep. The family obviously comes and maintains this grave.

These are very few and far between from the norm at the cemetery.

There is no complete record as to how many people are buried here because not every burial was recorded.

The records also get skewed due to family lots being broken up and sold into parts.

The tombstones don't always list everyone who was buried there either.

People buried their loved ones and didn't record it anywhere on the markers on the tombs.

That information is long gone.

Brings an air of mystery to the cemetery. Which I think is pretty neat!

Beautiful right?

Hope you enjoyed my mini tour.

With all my love,

Pati