Sunday, June 12, 2011

Family burial plots

You know folks are really settling in when they establish a cemetery for their dead.

The Washington Post ran a rather nice article yesterday about the lives of Muslim-Americans in the DC area. An accompanying photo essay ended with this lonely image from a community's new cemetery.


Al-Firdaus Memorial Gardens in Frederick County is the first all-Muslim cemetery in the Washington area. More American Muslims are opting to be buried in the United States rather than being sent back to the countries of their ancestors. Jahi Chikwendiu photo

In forty years, will this site look more like this? If the country's ability to absorb and change survives it's periodic xenophobic spasms, probably yes.
family-plot.jpg
A section of the family plot established by my ancestors in Buffalo, New York in their heyday, roughly 1814-1900.

1 comment:

Rain Trueax said...

We bought eight family plots in a section of the rural cemetery near where I live. Our parents are buried there but we won't be and likely neither will our kids or their spouses as we have turned to cremation as our choice for when it comes and I don't want a marker at all. I found out they have biodegradable urn types for the ashes which I also like the idea of. It's not that I don't like cemeteries though. I have take many photos like yours of old cemeteries but it's my reluctance to be mouldering in the grave ;)