The power of stones.

Cemeteries. Hear me out.
Cemeteries are amazingly interesting and you can learn a LOT from visiting them.

1. Stones for genealogy and community history:
   Epitaphs on headstones give us a lot of information about individuals, families, and the area in which the cemetery is established. They’re so important that hobbyists comb cemeteries around the country and document the stones they find through FindaGrave.com (I use this site constantly for genealogy purposes).
2. Headstone “emblems of belief”:
   We tend to know the cross and the Star of David, but there are a LOT of other emblems of belief. Finding and researching these can help us learn about different sects, denominations, and religious beliefs. Learn about them here, and see how many you can find in your local cemetery: https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hmm/emblems.asp
3. Cemeteries humanize the past like nothing else.
   I write about historical empathy on this page often, and what is more empathetic than visiting a grave site? One of my favorite activities in a cemetery is to look at the dates on the stones and try to imagine what kind of experiences the person had in their lifetime. For example:
   -Born in the 1830s, died in the 1890s: the person saw the period of mass Irish immigration, Westward Expansion, Manifest Destiny, railroad expansion, Bleeding Kansas, the American Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, industrialization (second Industrial Revolution), urbanization, and the formation of several new states.
   -Born in 1790, died in the 1840s: the person saw the period of the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark expedition, was alive at the time of many of the Founding Fathers, witnessed the second Great Awakening, the formation of the two-party political party system, the War of 1812, Indian-American wars, abolition, and Westward Expansion.
   Being able to place people on the human timeline helps develop that crucial element of chronology that we lack in the US right now.
4. Cemeteries as reminders of the cost of war:
   Especially with Memorial Day around the corner, cemeteries help us understand the heavy cost of war. Our culture has, in many ways, turned war into entertainment: movies, TV, and video games have contributed to various fallacies about the nature of war (although there are many awesome movies out there). Walking through cemeteries and spotting military symbols on headstones serves as a sober reminder than men and women really did fight and die for their country—and they are worth remembering. For more about military symbols, visit: https://militaryconnection.com/blog/decoding-military-headstones-and-other-cemetery-memorials-for-american-soldiers/
5. Cemeteries as symbols of legacy.
   As a Christian, cemeteries represent (for me) both the certainty of death and the hope of eternal life with Christ (Romans 5). Although we might not all agree on that, we CAN agree that we will all end up there one day: cemeteries act as a visual reminder that all of us will leave a legacy behind. They urge us to grapple with using our time here wisely, and that’s a lesson we should definitely be teaching our kids.

The next time you see an interesting cemetery, pull over and check it out (just be respectful)!

For interesting cemeteries around the US, visit:
https://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/the-25-most-hauntingly-beautiful-cemeteries-in-america-52391