Lake View Cemetery - 1

Since we all need at least a brief respite from the endless stream of flower photos, today starts a short series of photos from Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. As you may recall, we tried to visit recently but the gates were locked. After figuring out that that it was open on the weekends, we were successful on our second trip.



It is large, park-like place with many of the usual sorts of markers, but there are plenty that stand out. The one below is not only interesting stone, it is well carved.

We found several places where a union monument was erected and its deceased members were arranged around it. This one is for the gas fitters local 32. Lots of young men buried here. Clearly, it was (is?) dangerous work.

It was good to see that not ever grave is marked in the usual way with flowers in a vase. This rose bush is quite reminiscent of the sorts of things we'd often see in Australia.

This small marker is no more than 12-15 inches tall. Sometimes even the size tells a tale.

This tale is pretty obvious. This large square arch is a memorial to the Confederacy and it has been seriously defaced. Not only is it painted over, but what you cannot so easily see in the photo is that the engraved writing is all covered with smears of cement so that the text is now gone. This happened on June 20th, 2020. It also appears that the insignia at the top was removed. Even in places that were not even states in the 1860's, the Confederacy has left its mark.

This family has a section marked off for their loved ones with rather fancily carved corner posts.

This white statue stands out from the other stone colored markers and has a quite nice young woman (angel?) on one side.

This victorian style urn atop the pier is one of my favorite images from this visit. I like the colors and that it was possible to get a view from farther up the hill making it possible to see the urn from the side, not below. I also like that the trees are far enough away that they are out of focus, giving a pleasant framing to the grave marker.

Unlike many cemeteries, there is not segregation by faith or ethnicity. Where there are sections with many Asians, for example, there is no Asian section and there are people of all faiths and origins scattered everywhere. This was actually quite refreshing.