Germantown Upper Burial Ground

Received a note that the Germantown Upper Burying Ground will be open the second Sunday of each month from 2 to 4 p.m. (May through October).

Those dates are: June 14, July 12, August 9, September 13, October 11.

There will also be a Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 20, and they'll also be open Saturday, July 4, from noon to 2, with a bell ringing ceremony at 2 p.m.

After a long rainy spell, the weather today is gorgeous. If you're in the city and feel like a tour, why not check out Old St. Mary's cemetery? It's located at 252 S. 4th Street in Center City, and features prominent graves like John Barry, Michael Bouvier, and Thomas Fitzsimons.

Cemetery Research

I think this site provides some excellent tips for conducting cemetery research.

I hope it's helpful!

curious

I wonder where this is in the Woodlands Cemetery? Quite the expression on his face, isn't it?

Thanks to Maria Reilly and her flickr photo.

Warmed Up

I just finished a terrific book by Lisa Rogak called "Death Warmed Over." It's a book of funeral customs, by country or ethnicity, and accompanying recipes.

One of the customs is for the Amish, quite a few of whom live about an hour outside of Philadelphia. Here's the recipe for Funeral Pie, a recipe for which can be found here.

Enjoy!

Digging Up Bones

If you're searching for a particular person buried in a particular cemetery, you may want to check the online OPAC of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to see if they have records for that particular cemetery.

Many of the records are on microfilm, but some are in bound volumes you can just pull down off the shelf. It costs $6 to visit the library if you're not a member.

They have a wide variety of cemetery records, especially for ones located in Philadelphia and the near suburbs. You might be surprised what you find!

funeral customs

I'm reading a great book called "Death Warmed Over" by Lisa Rogak. It's basically about funeral customs all over the globe...from places as diverse as Egypt, Holland, and Iran. It's really fascinating, and I highly recommend it!