St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery

«*Disclaimer: I’m reviewing cemeteries for the purpose of a good relaxing walk, photographic opportunities, historic and unusual markers and maybe a little ghoulish thrill here and there. I’m a Victorian Taphophile at heart. Happy Halloween Kids!*
After wandering through Glenwood Cemetery for quite awhile, there was still enough daylight to safely take in the little gem across Lincoln Ave… St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery.
It’s simple enough to park your car on the street and walk around this particular burying ground. It’s a tiny loop, packed with mostly Italian families, though many of the older markers indicate it stared as a German Catholic establishment.
What a photographic treat St. Mary’s is! Of course, I’m defining «treat» as the «broken down», «odd», and «slightly creepy». St. Mary’s immediately connected with my inner Wednesday Addams when I entered and found a deliciously weatherworn marker with the most agonized bas-​relief portrait of Jesus it has ever been my pleasure to find. That alone gave it 5 skulls. err, I mean stars on the goth-​o-​meter. (see photos).
The headstones are leaning every which way and the sepulchral portraits of Italian faces peer out all around. The statuary and arrangements left inside each mausoleum are something my Calabrian Nona would be proud of.
St. Mary’s is an easy, open and safe loop to walk. There aren’t many hidden spaces, so I didn’t feel I needed to have a can of mace handy at all times, which allowed for some relaxing marker hunting and photography.
St. Mary’s is a quick treat for the busy taphophile, offering a great display of slightly dilapidated monuments and a time worn markers, all in a fast, open quickly walkable area.