I started visiting cemeteries during Sunday drives with my family when I was a child. We would often make a game of finding the oldest date on the headstones.

In college I provided the wheels for many a road trip to escape campus life. It was then that I learned to visit a cemetery with a flashlight just after dark so that I could cast a shadow across a nearly smooth stone and be able to read the shadows created.

There are some towns I am unable to drive through without stopping to visit the grave of a family member or friend; leaving the requisite flower or penny or even a stone as a sign that someone remembers and came to pay respect.

Some cemeteries are enjoyed because they command such spectacular views, whether in countryside or city.

While I love doing my own geneaology, I also enjoy helping others with theirs. Cemeteries and headstones quickly become a natural fit with such endeavors.

Since joining the Find A Grave community I have ventured into even more cemeteries than ever and have learned to appreciate a lot about my local community, its history and families.

As a career biologist, I also enjoy finding many unique plant communities existing in some of the oldest cemeteries in my locale. The wildlife making their homes or their livings in cemeteries is fascinating to watch. Also, some large cemeteries contain the most wonderful tree specimens around.

It surprises me how often searching for dead persons I find and learn to appreciate the living ones; be they long distant family members, local cemetery workers and walkers or neighbors, and other volunteers with Find A Grave.

Keep up the good work and happy hunting, Everyone!

I started visiting cemeteries during Sunday drives with my family when I was a child. We would often make a game of finding the oldest date on the headstones.

In college I provided the wheels for many a road trip to escape campus life. It was then that I learned to visit a cemetery with a flashlight just after dark so that I could cast a shadow across a nearly smooth stone and be able to read the shadows created.

There are some towns I am unable to drive through without stopping to visit the grave of a family member or friend; leaving the requisite flower or penny or even a stone as a sign that someone remembers and came to pay respect.

Some cemeteries are enjoyed because they command such spectacular views, whether in countryside or city.

While I love doing my own geneaology, I also enjoy helping others with theirs. Cemeteries and headstones quickly become a natural fit with such endeavors.

Since joining the Find A Grave community I have ventured into even more cemeteries than ever and have learned to appreciate a lot about my local community, its history and families.

As a career biologist, I also enjoy finding many unique plant communities existing in some of the oldest cemeteries in my locale. The wildlife making their homes or their livings in cemeteries is fascinating to watch. Also, some large cemeteries contain the most wonderful tree specimens around.

It surprises me how often searching for dead persons I find and learn to appreciate the living ones; be they long distant family members, local cemetery workers and walkers or neighbors, and other volunteers with Find A Grave.

Keep up the good work and happy hunting, Everyone!