Monday, December 26, 2011

Pearl Harbor Survivor: USS Nevada

J. B. Sykes was stationed in Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36), the U.S. Navy's first super dread-nought and sister ship of the USS Oklahoma, as a Fireman 1st Class at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.  The USS Nevada was the only battleship able to get underway during the attack.


Friday, December 16, 2011

Pearl Harbor Survivor: USS Nevada

Robert Marshall Burr was stationed in Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36), the U.S. Navy's first super dread-nought and sister ship of the USS Oklahoma, as a Yeoman 2nd Class at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.  The USS Nevada was the only battleship able to get underway during the attack.



Sunday, December 11, 2011

Pearl Harbor Survivor: USS Oklahoma

Francis Rowe "Parky" Parkinson was stationed in Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37), a World War I-era Battleship, as a Fireman 2nd Class at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.  He was a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Chapter 31.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Pearl Harbor Survivor: USS Whitney

Luther James Bailey was stationed in Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Whitney (AD-4), a Dobbin-class Destroyer Tender, as a Seaman 1st Class at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.


Thursday, December 1, 2011

Words: Robert Frost

In a Disused Graveyard

The living come with grassy tread
To read the gravestones on the hill;
The graveyard draws the living still,
But never anymore the dead.
The verses in it say and say:
"The ones who living come today
To read the stones and go away
Tomorrow dead will come to stay."
So sure of death the marbles rhyme,
Yet can't help marking all the time
How no one dead will seem to come.
What is it men are shrinking from?
It would be easy to be clever
And tell the stones:  Men hate to die
And have stopped dying now forever.
I think they would believe the lie.

-Robert Frost

From the 1923 Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of poems, New Hampshire, by Robert Frost (1874-1963).

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Buena Vista Cemetery: Oceanside, CA, USA

Established in the 1880s on the south side of the former Wall St., now Vista Way, overlooking the Buena Vista Lagoon between Oceanside and Carlsbad. The location is just west of the present Interstate 5. It remained an active cemetery until about 1906, eventually containing forty or more interments. A few bodies were disinterred and relocated to the newer I.O.O.F. Cemetery, later known as Oceanview, but Buena Vista became forgotten and neglected for many years. Eventually the property was sold and rezoned for commercial use. Bodies were to be disinterred and relocated. Seventeen were known to have been relocated to El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego and a handful of others were relocated to other area cemeteries. After grading for construction began in early 1970 there were several reports of human remains and coffins being found. There were more reported incidents when the on ramp for southbound Interstate 5 expanded onto the property. By then construction workers, dissatisfied with the lack of respect shown in the handling of previously found remains, simply reburied any remains found on the site and the slope towards the lagoon. A restaurant, presently Hunter Steakhouse, was built on the site as well as a gas station, presently Amazon Bikes. The restaurant has had reports of paranormal activity since its construction and the gas station building has also been the source of reported activity.   John J. Lamb devotes a chapter of his 1999 book, San Diego Specters, to these occurances.

This plaque, placed near the entrance to Hunter Steakhouse by the Oceanside Historical Society, says it all:
"Dedicated to the memories of those who were buried at Buena Vista Cemetery. While some bodies were moved before and during construction on this site many remain here or nearby."


Hunter Steakhouse and Amazon Bikes, both built on the site of the former Buena Vista Cemetery.



View of the site from the south showing the slope down to the lagoon. Amazon Bikes is the gray building to the right and the peak of the roof of Hunter Steakhouse is just visible over the yellow house.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Words: Harlan Sanders

"There is no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.  You can't do any business from there."
- Colonel Harlan Sanders (1890-1980)

Friday, November 11, 2011

Ceramic Photo: Gilbert & Lydia

Of all the ceramic photos I've photographed, this one is my favorite.  It is feels so appropriate for today, Veterans Day.
To all veterans, thank you for your service.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Book Review: Final Thoughts: Eternal Beauty in Stone by John Thomas Grant

Final Thoughts: Eternal Beauty in Stone by John Thomas Grant

The stunning photography of John Thomas Grant is beautifully presented in this coffee table style book. I find myself drawn into each photograph, slowly savoring the details. Each photograph is perfectly complimented in text with old epitaphs. This will not be a quick read; it is a book to be enjoyed slowly. John's unique perspective gives all cemetery photographers something to aspire to. An excellent addition to any photo or cemetery book collection! A must see for cemetery lovers!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Words: Harriet Beecher Stowe

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe  (1811-1896)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thursday, September 15, 2011

San Luis Rey Pioneer Cemetery: Oceanside, CA, USA

Located off Rancho Del Oro Road between Mission Avenue and the Highway 76 Expressway, across from Mission San Luis Rey.  Built on land donated in 1875 it was originally a Protestant cemetery, the alternative to the Catholic cemetery at Mission San Luis Rey.


Many Oceanside pioneers are buried here including city founder Andrew Jackson Myers.


Several strands of the same type of barbed wire used in an earlier cemetery fence are included in the present fence.