You might be thinking "A cemetery tour? Eeeww." But it was actually pretty cool. I already like going to cemeteries once in a while for a sense of history. I had been to this one before, when I lived in Valparaiso. The dates on some of the headstones amaze me. Life is much bigger than just the moment we live in, and there are so many stories to be known. When I wander in a cemetery, I wonder what life was like for those whose headstones I am reading. What was life like in our area in, say, 1898?
A friend of mine, who was going to be speaking at the tour, sent me a Facebook invite. Since I lived in Valpo long enough to consider it my adopted home (I do not live there anymore, and I miss it) I thought It would be interesting, and it was.
The tour was led by Kevin Pazour (executive director of the Porter Co Museum) and Steve Mockler (Sons of the Union Veterans member, and my friend). They took turns telling interesting stories about some of the residents of Maplewood Cemetery and their connection to Valparaiso and/or Porter County. There are quite a few Civil War Union soldiers in this cemetery and they were able to share a few stories of their lives with us. (Maplewood Cemetery is also part of the South Shore Civil War Trail. To learn more, click here). To be honest, my memory is too horrible to recall and share pieces of the stories, but hey, that just gives you reason to go to the next tour, right? The next tour is 2 pm on October 22nd at the Union Street Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Valparaiso. I'm sure those stories will be just as interesting.
Steve Mockler telling the stories of three brothers that fought in the Civil War...
The graves in the photo below have two headstones because the originals were kept.
Unsure of the origins of the stone bench, there was a bit of humor about LaPorte trying to troll Valpo...
While I don't remember the whole story, the deceased below registered a patent still used today. Something to do with hunting clothes, I think.
Something other than history that I love about old cemeteries, old trees...
For the Porter County Museum Facebook page
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