Visit a Cemetery Day

Discovering these obscure holidays is rather exciting and fun as this one really caught my eye.  Today is National Visit a Cemetery Day.  As I can attest with more excitement than what should be normal or proper, I absolutely love to visit cemeteries.  So to encourage everyone to visit a cemetery is something I wholeheartedly advocate.  For some reason, maybe in light of my eccentricities, walking the local graveyard is like a magnet to iron filings.  I am instantly drawn to wander the vast history of what is there for the soaking in.  Honestly, the last two cemeteries I visited were in Leakey and Rio Frio, Texas back in August when I made my annual pilgrimage to visit my friend who resides there.  The history was fascinating.  The first "place of rest" is located in the heart of town, so there was no excuse in not finding the burial ground.  The second, however, was a little harder to find as I had to maneuver the rural back roads looking for who knows what.  Once I found it, I remembered what the locals had told me about it.  This particular resting ground was considered the "Mexican" cemetery.  I had always heard of old Negro cemeteries, segregated due to the nation's history, but I had never heard of a Mexican cemetery.  Maybe they felt the same way about the nation's history as the blacks did.  Here in Fort Worth there are two cemeteries I enjoy walking through.  The first is Oakwood Cemetery near the intersection of North Main Street and Northside Drive and the Jewish Cemetery near JPS Hospital on Main Street.  As it turns out, I have family buried in Oakwood Cemetery.  That particular place has an interesting history.  It initially began as three or more distinct cemeteries, but all of them gradually grew into one large cemetery over time.  I could ramble further on the topic, but allow me to close by simply encouraging you to visit your local cemetery.