1,000 Cemeteries Update: Find a Grave

Because I’m so terrible at being consistent with posting before I update you on my 1,000 cemeteries quest, I figured I’d give a quick update on what’s new in general. Here are some highlights:

• I moved … again. Yup, this nomad packed her bags and moved from an apartment into a house. Thankfully it’s in the same city so it was a breeze.
• I’ve started taking ukulele lessons. I’m 5 lessons in and I know a few chords and I can play happy birthday if I really focus. It’s a process.
• This news is over a year old already but whatever. I’ve joined the fish keeping hobby and I’m loving it! Currently I have two Bettas but I plan on setting up a 20 gallon tank and filling it with different types of fish. I’m thinking Platys in case you’re wondering.
• I’ve been reading like a mad woman. My goal this year was 50 books and I’m already at 49! I plan on reading as much as I can before the year is over. But if I had to set a new goal I’d say it’s 52.

Now onto the quest update.

I haven’t had much chance to visit any new cemeteries lately but I’ve been itching to keep working on the quest. So I decided to compile all the notes from my 1,000 cemeteries quest into a nice notebook. Something I can easily take with me on my jaunts out exploring graves. I decided to write down all the locations and their official addresses. You’d be surprised how often cemeteries have the same or similar names. Locations help me keep them all straight. But addresses can be a bit tricky, especially since so many of these cemeteries are located on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere. Even Google has a difficult time pinpointing locations sometimes. And I mean Google knows everything, right?!

In my search for a tiny cemetery in the neighbourhood I grew up in I stumbled across this awesome website called Find A Grave. This website boasts that it’s the world’s largest gravesite collection with over 170 million memorials created by the community since 1995.

Not only did it have the location I was looking for, it also had the official cemetery name and helped me clarify that the church is located in a completely different area than the cemetery.

But the really cool thing about this site is that once you sign up to be a member (it’s free!) you can search any city or town and find a list of cemeteries. So basically it’s an excellent resource for someone like me! You can also sign up to take photos of gravestones for members who are not located in your area. This helps those who are working on their family’s genealogy – which also happens to be one of my passions.

So the question is … how did it take me so long to find it?!

I’m a big believer that timing is everything. We stumble across things when we are meant to – when we are ready. I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about my cemetery quest and my family’s genealogy. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to focus my attention on these. And now I’m ready.

Armed with this new resource I’m prepared to hit the road and visit more cemeteries. I’m hoping to get a few more in before the snow falls. I also plan on posting part two of my graveyard symbolism. Now that I’m settled into my new place I should have more time.

The photos below are from a cemetery I visited near Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada this summer called Seaview Cemetery. Thank you to my lovely friend Nell for taking me!

And that’s it for now folks, but before I go I’d love to hear from you. What would you like to see me post about? Cemeteries, fish keeping, genealogy, ukulele, reading, anything and everything? Leave me a comment below!