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Category Proposal - Cemetaries


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After doing a bit of Geocaching, I have found that there are a lot of cemetaries which are rather small, rather unmaintained, and rather interesting when you have time to wander around in them. I would like to see a category for these in Waymarking.com. Anyone willing to be on my committee?

 

Haha - ok - now that I learned a little more, I see there is an abandoned cemetaries category. I would like to see one for just plain old cemetaries - Most of the ones I have run across haven't been "abandoned", but just are rarely used, or no new people are buried there...it is still maintained tho. Any ideas for a category for this under History/Culture?

Edited by FireRef
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After doing a bit of Geocaching, I have found that there are a lot of cemetaries which are rather small, rather unmaintained, and rather interesting when you have time to wander around in them. I would like to see a category for these in Waymarking.com. Anyone willing to be on my committee?

 

Haha - ok - now that I learned a little more, I see there is an abandoned cemetaries category. I would like to see one for just plain old cemetaries - Most of the ones I have run across haven't been "abandoned", but just are rarely used, or no new people are buried there...it is still maintained tho. Any ideas for a category for this under History/Culture?

 

It sounds like you want a category for inactive cemeteries. This can be hard to determine by a visit. Not having current burials is not a good determinate as many VA national cemeteries are restricted from new burials however they are far from inactive. Cemeteries as a general may have little appeal. Besides the cemetery category you listed there are several categories for graves or grave types.

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After doing a bit of Geocaching, I have found that there are a lot of cemetaries which are rather small, rather unmaintained, and rather interesting when you have time to wander around in them. I would like to see a category for these in Waymarking.com. Anyone willing to be on my committee?

 

Haha - ok - now that I learned a little more, I see there is an abandoned cemetaries category. I would like to see one for just plain old cemetaries - Most of the ones I have run across haven't been "abandoned", but just are rarely used, or no new people are buried there...it is still maintained tho. Any ideas for a category for this under History/Culture?

 

It sounds like you want a category for inactive cemeteries. This can be hard to determine by a visit. Not having current burials is not a good determinate as many VA national cemeteries are restricted from new burials however they are far from inactive. Cemeteries as a general may have little appeal. Besides the cemetery category you listed there are several categories for graves or grave types.

 

The only ones I saw were for lost cemeteries or for famous people. What I'm talking about may or may not be inactive - i'm looking more for the general category.

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Can you provide an example of a reason that a person should want to visit a cemetary, apart from visiting a famous person's grave?

 

:) The Blue Quasar

 

1) Interest

2) Local history

3) Projects to preserve old grave markers (found several online recently)

 

Three ok?

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1) Interest

2) Local history

3) Projects to preserve old grave markers (found several online recently)

 

Three ok?

 

Given the current categories (two I think) how do you see your suggestion enhancing those already there and in the context of your three points. I would have thought points (1) and (3) would be addressed by the exsiting categories. A category for cemetaries in use may address (2) but I am struggling to see how the current categories don't address that point as well.

 

Sorry not that hot on this idea.

 

Regards

Andrew

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---snip---

 

Haha - ok - now that I learned a little more, I see there is an abandoned cemetaries category. I would like to see one for just plain old cemetaries - Most of the ones I have run across haven't been "abandoned", but just are rarely used, or no new people are buried there...it is still maintained tho. Any ideas for a category for this under History/Culture?

 

It sounds like you want a category for inactive cemeteries. This can be hard to determine by a visit. Not having current burials is not a good determinate as many VA national cemeteries are restricted from new burials however they are far from inactive. Cemeteries as a general may have little appeal. Besides the cemetery category you listed there are several categories for graves or grave types.

 

The only ones I saw were for lost cemeteries or for famous people. What I'm talking about may or may not be inactive - i'm looking more for the general category.

 

There are categories for Abandoned cemeteries, out of place graves, famous person graves, Medal of Honor graves, American Revolutionary War veteran graves, occupational/hobby gravestones, add to this many cemeteries are listed on the national registry of historic sites, and those listed on the Civil War Discovery Trail. Many cemeteries also have Civil War or WWI memorials in them which also have categories. Categories that are general in nature I have little support for. If you can come up with some kind of qualifier for the cemetery then I think it will have more interest. Having done probably more cemetery related waymarks than anyone else, I have found that many cemeteries are interesting however most I would not want to waymark as just a cemetery but only for a specific feature within it.

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1) Interest

2) Local history

3) Projects to preserve old grave markers (found several online recently)

 

Three ok?

Given the current categories (two I think) how do you see your suggestion enhancing those already there and in the context of your three points. I would have thought points (1) and (3) would be addressed by the exsiting categories. A category for cemetaries in use may address (2) but I am struggling to see how the current categories don't address that point as well.

 

Sorry not that hot on this idea.

 

Regards

Andrew

I just did a couple of searches on the word "cemetary" and "cemetaries" and only found one listing, for Pet Cemetaries.

 

Which was cool :) because I found one of those on a recent trip and got the waypoint and took pictures . . .

 

Back on topic. I like this idea. While I was on that road trip, I found an interesting old Jewish cemetary west of Denver. I grew up in the area and never knew that place was there.

 

Since the Search did not return any other Cemetary listing, where would that old cemetary fit now?

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Back on topic. I like this idea. While I was on that road trip, I found an interesting old Jewish cemetary west of Denver. I grew up in the area and never knew that place was there.

 

Since the Search did not return any other Cemetary listing, where would that old cemetary fit now?

 

Not every location will fit a category... nor should every location have a category. For your specific cemetery see if it is listed on the national historic registry (I doubt that it is as I only saw one cemetery listed for Denver and another for Lakewood). Then check to see if any of the graves 'qualify' in any of the categories I listed in an early posting. I have run across some interesting cemeteries in my travels including an Orthodox cemetery and a Chinese cemetery (in St Louis, MO), these didn't fit any category and I didn't want to start a category call "Interesting Cemeteries" as I don't want to determine if something is "interesting" or not.

 

When searching for categories also use the tag search, it will have you other possible search words besides cemetery such as graves etc.

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There are categories for Abandoned cemeteries, out of place graves, famous person graves, Medal of Honor graves, American Revolutionary War veteran graves, occupational/hobby gravestones, add to this many cemeteries are listed on the national registry of historic sites, and those listed on the Civil War Discovery Trail. Many cemeteries also have Civil War or WWI memorials in them which also have categories. Categories that are general in nature I have little support for. If you can come up with some kind of qualifier for the cemetery then I think it will have more interest. Having done probably more cemetery related waymarks than anyone else, I have found that many cemeteries are interesting however most I would not want to waymark as just a cemetery but only for a specific feature within it.

 

Another category, which my be on the "up for adoption list" is Genealogy, which mentions cemeteries as possible waymarks for that category. That is also another answer to BlueQuasar's question of why one might visit or waymark a cemetery. A lot of genealogists visit them, and there are ongoing projects to catalog them.

 

I might suggest a couple of unique qualifiers.

 

1) Family cemeteries. Ran across one of these in norther New Hampshire last week -- no sign, just a couple dozen old markers, all seeming to be for one family. I'm not sure the nearby house was related. Then, in Maine this weekend, geocaching and Waymarking, we passed several similar plots, but these had signs designating them as family plots, not anywhere near a larger cemetery.

 

2) Church yard cemeteries. These are very common here in New England, but I don't know about the rest of the U.S. or other countries, though I suspect they are common in Europe. These are often older and have some interesting history to them.

 

I think any such category needs to have some variables to it to make it worthwhile -- something more than. " I stopped by the road and took this cool picture."

 

Still worth considering, though I do agree with your thoughts above.

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I just did a couple of searches on the word "cemetary" and "cemetaries" and only found one listing, for Pet Cemetaries.

 

F.Y.I:... It's Pet Cemeteries :huh: ---> Not Pet Cemetaries :laughing:

 

:laughing:Answers.com

 

Haha - don't feel bad - I did this one too... always thought the third vowel was an A until earlier today.

 

I guess I'm thinking that there are very interesting aspects to many cemeteries, but many don't fit into the categories that are listed. For example, to cite the geaneology (sp?) example mentioned earlier, what would a current cemetery which is active, but has older gravestones in it, qualify as? The project I was referring to is trying to electronically catalog all grave markers, but starting with older ones first, as they are the most likely to become unreadable over a short period of time.

 

I understand that just because it is there doesn't really make it a waymark (and this seems to be the main reason why TPTB moved them to here instead of keeping them as virtual/locationless caches), but it does seem to be a point of interest. As waymarks evolve, it does seem like the listings for this category (and many others) will broaden and end up in multiple places under multiple categories, and become very hard to follow/track. But that is a different issue altogether.

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Haha - don't feel bad - I did this one too... always thought the third vowel was an A until earlier today.

 

I guess I'm thinking that there are very interesting aspects to many cemeteries, but many don't fit into the categories that are listed. For example, to cite the geaneology (sp?) example mentioned earlier, what would a current cemetery which is active, but has older gravestones in it, qualify as? The project I was referring to is trying to electronically catalog all grave markers, but starting with older ones first, as they are the most likely to become unreadable over a short period of time.

 

I understand that just because it is there doesn't really make it a waymark (and this seems to be the main reason why TPTB moved them to here instead of keeping them as virtual/locationless caches), but it does seem to be a point of interest. As waymarks evolve, it does seem like the listings for this category (and many others) will broaden and end up in multiple places under multiple categories, and become very hard to follow/track. But that is a different issue altogether.

 

My recommendation if you see something interesting, take a couple pictures of it and record the coordinates. I have done this many times even if there is not a category for it at the time. In time a new category will be formed that it will fit in. I still have 30-40 pictures without categories but several have been added.

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FireRef Posted Jun 26 2006, 04:11 PM

 

(The Blue Quasar @ Jun 26 2006, 03:50 PM) *

 

Can you provide an example of a reason that a person should want to visit a cemetary, apart from visiting a famous person's grave?

 

cool.gif The Blue Quasar

 

1) Interest

2) Local history

3) Projects to preserve old grave markers (found several online recently)

 

Three ok?

 

1) You have interest in locations of cemeteries around the world? Or do you believe that others have this interest?

 

2) This one has possibility if the individual Waymark pages give specific details regarding the cemeteries. Full historical information and such.

 

3) That is not what you were proposing. You said that you wanted to list cemeteries, not grave markers. There are categories for those already.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are reasons to visit cemeteries. My wife can spend hours preventing me from finishing a multi-cache because she wants to read all the headstones.

 

There have been a few categories that have been just tossed together without any thought to them, and with the sensitivity that often surrounds cemeteries, the two things combined could be seen negatively.

 

So all I am suggesting is that you might want to ensure that there is a defined reason to list them, and set the bar high for quality.

 

Myself, I like visiting cemeteries... to see the various headstones. They are often very artistic. That is what I look at while my wife reads about people.

 

:) The Blue Quasar

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FireRef Posted Jun 26 2006, 04:11 PM

 

(The Blue Quasar @ Jun 26 2006, 03:50 PM) *

 

Can you provide an example of a reason that a person should want to visit a cemetary, apart from visiting a famous person's grave?

 

cool.gif The Blue Quasar

 

1) Interest

2) Local history

3) Projects to preserve old grave markers (found several online recently)

 

Three ok?

 

1) You have interest in locations of cemeteries around the world? Or do you believe that others have this interest?

 

2) This one has possibility if the individual Waymark pages give specific details regarding the cemeteries. Full historical information and such.

 

3) That is not what you were proposing. You said that you wanted to list cemeteries, not grave markers. There are categories for those already.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are reasons to visit cemeteries. My wife can spend hours preventing me from finishing a multi-cache because she wants to read all the headstones.

 

There have been a few categories that have been just tossed together without any thought to them, and with the sensitivity that often surrounds cemeteries, the two things combined could be seen negatively.

 

So all I am suggesting is that you might want to ensure that there is a defined reason to list them, and set the bar high for quality.

 

Myself, I like visiting cemeteries... to see the various headstones. They are often very artistic. That is what I look at while my wife reads about people.

 

:wub: The Blue Quasar

 

In response to #1, I don't believe anyone is interested in the locations of McDonalds all over the world either... or many of the other categories that exist. I'm not sure what you're getting at here.

 

As for #3, gravestones are located in cemetaries... at least the great majority of them are - haha

 

I see the concern for a not well thought out category tho...

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After doing a bit of Geocaching, I have found that there are a lot of cemetaries which are rather small, rather unmaintained, and rather interesting when you have time to wander around in them. I would like to see a category for these in Waymarking.com. Anyone willing to be on my committee?

 

 

Well, as it happens I too have a bit of a fascination with old cemeteries and such. And I'm also a member/officer now for the Out of Place Graves category. Seemed like a good idea having stumbled on and submitted 2 myself.

 

In fact here's one (should be the first picture) we came upon while wheeling a couple of years ago alongside a long unmaintained road that is only passable now by 4x4, ATV or on foot. I've come across these places on and off during my travels. They truly fascinate me.

 

I'm game if your category comes together and you need members/officers. :wub:

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I was looking to see how I would map out a multicache to tell a story I discovered and stumbled on this topic. Felt compelled to insert my 2-cents...

 

I was sort of following a bunch of those "Historical Markers" (love those things!) one afternoon after dropping my children at a friends house...one referenced another, and another...It started with the settlers and ended with their burial sites. What an amazing adventure. When I got to the cemetery, another historical marker pointed out something I have never seen before.

I don't wanna ruin my cache'd journey before I've mapped it out to share with others, but I just wanted to make the point that these old graves are our history...as much as any building or interesting plot of land. It's always fun to browse an old one, see the technology and styles of the markers change, wonder what must have happened in 1840, to that young grave, see the family plots...almost like time travel.

 

I wonder now, would this sort of journey not be interesting to most, ya think?

Edited by kzinna
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