Places I Hadn't Been Before - Homewood Cemetery

One of the many advantages of being funemployed is that you have a lot of time to do things. Yesterday, I went to breakfast at Square Cafe (where my first world problem was that they were out of ciabatta and I had to have my breakfast sandwich on wheat).

When I was walking back to Shadyside, I realized that I had never been in the Homewood Cemetery before. I drive past it all the time. I've seen those gates more times than I can count. But I never went inside. I took a break from my busy Pokemon catching schedule and walked in the gates on Forbes.

It is so serene in there. I know - it's a cemetery so it isn't bustling. There is something about being in the city limits and being in a place where you don't see or hear anyone for at least half an hour at a time that is amazing. I always take for granted that there will always be someone near me. I live in a condo building with neighbors. I walk around Shadyside with other pedestrians and cars. There are very few moments when I am totally alone. Walking around the cemetery was one of those times.

 The city's cemeteries are a fascinating way to look into the past. Although we have many monuments and signs about our city's history in other places, the cemetery is one place you can also find the traces of those who weren't the super rich (the rich are definitely there too - Frick's grave is a Pokestop!). You can see the change in style of gravestones to the ones we usually see today (the super smooth layer that makes it so you can read it years later)

 

 There are small, deteriorated graves that belonged to children and their parents. I saw headstones of men who died when they were my age back in the mid 1990s that had fresh flowers on the graves. There are monuments to families that must have been important but are lost to casual history. I found two headstones that aren't in English.


It was a beautiful place, and I am glad I visited it. The most important lesson I learned was if you go buy a mausoleum with a slightly open door, take a quick pic, and keep walking! It's October...let's not forget what horror movies have taught us!