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I wish I had more cemetery photos to post- but life and the weather have been chaotic, so I haven't been able to take more photos lately, and what I do have, I haven't had time to edit. These though are some photos I've taken that aren't of grave sites, but that I like, [...]

While it is sad to see when something has been damaged, or that something once meaningful has been neglected, there is also a certain aesthetic quality to them. They often give the impression of having some incredible story to tell, if they could just talk. Here some that caught my [...]

Queen of Heaven is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, consecrated in 1947. Operations were combined with the neighboring Mount Carmel Cemetery in 1965. There are currently over 122,000 people buried there, and over 3,000 annual internments. The adjacent Queen of Heaven Mausoleum, has 30,000 crypts.

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Mount Carmel is a Roman Catholic cemetery that was consecrated in 1901. It's located right across the street from Queen of Heaven, which it combined operations with in 1965. While many nationalities can be found at both, Mount Carmel is predominantly Italian, and Queen of Heaven is predominantly Slavic. [...]

Continuing from my last post with examples of votives at local grave sites.

In my last post I discussed Grave Goods and Votives and shared some photos of pet/animal statues left at local grave sites. This post is for other kinds of votives: wind chimes, trinkets, food, holiday decorations, toys and the like. When the deceased are stored in mausoleums, there are sometimes shelves at the [...]

Throughout history and around the world, people have left goods for the dead. They may be buried with the deceased, or brought to be placed on their grave site throughout the year. These goods are usually personal possessions and supplies. In some belief systems, these may be necessary to ensure that the [...]

Towards the back of Bronswood Cemetery, partially hidden by the encroaching woods, is a small abandoned utility shed. It seems fitting for a building to collapse and 'die' in such a place. An up kept utility room in use is tucked underground, behind the brook, near the mausoleum; the steps to it can [...]

If you visit Bronswood Cemetery at the right time, and are very quiet, you can see deer close up. They come right out of the woods to drink at the brook that cuts through the cemetery. These are all does and fawns. There's a big buck who comes through too, but I [...]

Bronswood is my favourite cemetery in the area. Tucked away on a quiet side road, between Oak Brook and Hinsdale, it is shaded by numerous trees, with a brook running through it. The rules are lax compared to many modern cemeteries, so there are a variety of tombstones, as well as statues placed [...]