In Search Of Old Local Cemeteries
My first winter in Tulsa, going on 10 years now, my daughter Kasi drove me out into the countryside. Neither one of us had a destination. She was just driving me around because I love to take pictures of the countryside.
And suddenly we happened upon an old cemetery setting up in a copse of trees way off the road.
She sat in her car and read a book while I walked around with my camera. The old tilted stones fascinated me. I read the names, those not too faded by time and the elements.
I’ve always been drawn to old cemeteries. There’s just something about their history and obvious neglect over time that draws me to them like a moth to a flame.
Every year around this time and through January, I think about trying to find another old cemetery where I can take photos of leaning tombstones. Or possibly that same one if I could recall where it was.
The grayness of the winter sky is the perfect backdrop. The way the branches sometimes resemble arthritic hands reaching up toward the sky.
The other day at Trader Joe’s I was talking to the young man who checked me out. We got to talking about photography, as I’d been out taking pictures, and I mentioned wanting to find such a graveyard.
He told me that he’d been to one with a friend once, an old cemetery that had documentation about the occupants that once lived there. And he thought the name was something like “Prospect.”
If anyone knows about the location of this cemetery in Tulsa, please let me know. Or any other old cemetery for that matter.
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Every Memorial day my husband and I would put red geraniums on all of the graves of his relatives. .He gave us a family history lesson for most of the people buried there. It was a rewarding experience and seem to bring these people alive from the past. So very peaceful to me. We usually put 40-50 flowers on the graves.
all you have to do is an internet search. you will find them. Or, as at a church or funeral home.
Old cemeteries are fascinating. A few years ago I was in the DAR. On the property of one of our members was a small cemetery area where several Civil War soldiers were buried. Some of the stones were well into the dirt and many faded. So with a bit of research and clues they were able to find their names. New markers were made up for several and there was a small scale ceremony rededicating the area. It’s amazing what you can find out with just a few clues to work from.
My sons and I are always cemetery hopping. The peacefulness, the stones, and the history are wonderful.
Try this website https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery
Use the tab “Cemeteries”
I didn’t see any cemetery named “Prospect” in Tulsa, but there are plenty of other old cemeteries for you to visit.
When we go up to a little coastal town called Cambria there’s a neat old cemetery. You have to drive into the woods a couple of miles and the road dead ends there. Some of the stones are from the 1800s!
Brenda-I just forwarded some suggestions to you via FB dm. A FB friend also lives in Tulsa and I recalled she liked to visit old cemeteries. Please let me know if the messages came thru.
Yes, thank you!
Brenda, I live in Oregon, but many of my family lives in OK. Oak Hill Cemetery in Drumright is where some of them are laying in rest. I’ve never been there, but my nephew is sending me some pictures. Sandra
My daughter and I love researching old cemeteries too!
If you go on cemeteryregistery.us you can find cemeteries in your state! Also findagrave.com!
Thanks!
I have found so much family info at FindAGrave.com. Great resource!
There is one in Okmulgee next to the YMCA on 13th street, a few blocks west off Hwy 75. Very old headstones there.
I can probably find that. Maybe.
Brenda, I am drawn to old cemeteries. I feel that same sense of history in them. I love to wander around and read the headstones and try to imagine how life was for those people. And how different it is now.
It is fascinating to visit old cemeteries, I love the cemetery in Colonial Williamsburg and the very old one in Amelia Island Florida. I am sometimes amazed at just how old some of the stones are and the stories on the grave stones.
I love places like this too where there is so much history. That bench looks so beautiful and a great place to sit and reflect on life. Just beautiful.