Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Cowbell Cemetery


This is a great cemetery on the outskirts of Berea, but it's difficult to get to. You have to park by the side of Big Hill Road (which starts out as Prospect Street in Berea) which isn't exactly simple, since it's a winding and hilly country road and the pull-over place isn't obvious the first time you pass it. Once you do manage to pull over to the right spot, you have to hop a fence and then walk some distance to get to the graveyard's location nestled in the hills. It's a fascinating rural graveyard with lots of unusual homemade headstones and odd items left on graves.

Of all the cemeteries we've surveyed, this cemetery probably has the highest quotient of plastic whirlygigs, concrete trolls and animals, toys, shepherd's hooks, plastic flowers, and whatnot. A recurring theme here seems to be baby dolls sealed in glass jars and plastic jugs, which has an eerie and disturbing element not intended by the bereaved.


3 comments:

Billy Sugarfix said...

I shot some video of Cowbell Cemetery last summer. It's on edpisode 4 of a tv show I do. The clip is towards the end, but I'd appreciate anyone watching the other segments!

http://sugarfixmix.com

chikady said...

Went out to find the cemetery today, wasn't too difficult, just had to pay a lot of attention. But there is a locked gate and a sign that says no trespassing, so my companions wouldn't allow me to go on in :(

JSH said...

Chikady, I've always sort-of assumed that the sign doesn't apply to people who are actually there to visit the cemetery, and that "trespassing" would mean being there for any other non-legitimate purpose.

As I recall, the locked gate only keeps vehicles from entering via the road - one can still openly enter the cemetery on a pedestrian trail.

There's also a phone number to call on the sign if anyone wants to check with the cemetery's keepers.