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Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown." Who can supply us with a current photo from the same vantage point? View full size.
I spent a long summer afternoon here once in the early '80s. Took the subway in from my home in the suburbs, went as far as I could on the Red Line (Dupont Circle at the time) then just started wandering. This is where I ended up.
Here you go. I'm sure someone could improve on my quality. I'm no photographer. But Sunday was a gorgeous day to go slipping through one of my favorite spots in DC. I think I'll try and head back in the winter to get the full view without the leaves.
My guess is that the jars were left there from someone who had brought flowers in them. My grandmother saved jars all year to use to arrange flowers from her huge garden in, for Memorial Day. She would try to give our departed relatives' graves some of the flowers that had been their favorites. It has obviously been a while since Memorial Day, here, but the jars look like they have been lying there for quite a while.
"Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you (en)'grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill."
Although he was born in Scotland, I believe he is buried in Samoa.
had to be erected around the cemetery, because folks were dying to get in. My grandfather used that one forty years ago, still brings a smile to my face.
The James monument (cross on a base) in the center foreground is in lot #478 in the Chapel Valley section according to cemetery records. The photographer probably stood approximately in lot #460 behind it and aimed northeast toward the Reno Hill section.
I keep looking for ghosts, but can't find any. But if I take my glasses off, they're everywhere!
A few glass jars in the left foreground. Old offerings of moonshine?
Is this photo close? From the cemetery Web site.
I'll try and go by tomorrow to find the same spot.
But I think I'd much rather just visit.
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