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home > media > photography > submitted photos > submission 4
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The cemetery is full of so many things -- history, questions, respect, sexism, beauty..... I have spent many a day in there with just my camera and a picnic lunch and gone crazy! It really is a gorgeous spot. Things from the mundane to the informative can be learned in there! Did you know that on most children's graves (the lambs), the head is usually the first thing to deteriorate away? There were many headless lambs in there due to weather erosion. The man who Hamilton is named after is buried in there. Many a soldier from various wars are buried there. I saw some buried from WW2, WW1, and I even saw ones from the Boer War in 1899! It was incredible! One of the above ground graves proved that sexism was alive and well back in the day to me! I believe it was of a man and his wife -- the man was the first doctor in Hamilton and it has a basic biography of his life on the grave. He came from Scotland, lived in the Maritimes, moved to Ontario and practiced medicine in Hamilton. Right on the bottom of the stone, it says, "His wife," and the year she died! That was it for the wife! Not only was she not allowed the dignity to let people know when she was born, but she was not even given a name! I found that rather shocking! Another one gave an air of mystery. It was of a gentleman who died in 1912 "When he was struck and killed by a car." What kind of car? One of the new fandangled automobiles? A street car? A train car? I found that one intruiging. So many beautiful statues! they almost look alive themselves! Great monuments for little children who didn't live past four. How their parents must have loved and missed them to make such beautiful pieces of art in honour of their deceased child -- and now, those parents must be long dead. Who comes to visit these poor children now? These children who were so loved are now only remembered when someone passes by their grave, but forgotten the minute the cemetery is empty. Family tombs -- HUGE! I'll be lucky if I get a rock with my name painted on it and I stare in envious awe at these giants in the cemetery! Wealthy citizens making sure their memorials would be seen both on Heaven and Earth! And mysteries! My great grandmother is buried in that cemetery (she is the stone Downton). I thought my great grandmother only had 3 children -- my grandma, my great uncle and another great uncle who was killed in WW2 and is buried in France. When I found her grave, I saw not just her name and the name of my great grandfather (who died decades before my birth), but the names of 2 other children who died in infancy! I was never told about them and my grandparents love talking to me about when they were young! And when I asked about my grandmothers deceased brothers, she refused to talk to me about them! And the mystery continues...... Kyla
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