LIFE IN A CEMETERY

Rex Burress

I was reminded of life in a cemetery by a photograph of a bald eagle perched on a headstone in a military uniformity of headstones. The eagle's choice must have been random, and then again was there a spiritual reason? However, ground squirrels were abundant around the stones.

The soil in a cemetery could be even richer but for the water-tight boxes. Most graveyards are watered and the green grass mowed to keep it lawn-like, although some, like Cherokee Cemetery north of Oroville, CA, has an 'old' and wild section that traditionally lets most of the weeds and wildflowers grow in the old section. The gold miners from Wales-country and the Cherokee Indian miners would like that setting. That rusticity was what appealed to Jo and I, and we have plots there, duly conforming with the cemetery criteria in the new section, however, that now includes Hmong people. Welcome. It's a business, you know! But the birds fly free there, and the bobcat is free to pad into the open space above the graves!

The wild Calochortus grows there, and the wild Indian Paintbrush attracts the wild Yellow-faced Bumblebee. Where nature is allowed some space to interact with the soil, a refuge is established.

Caskets take up some space underground in cemeteries, and tombstones jut from the surface, but there's still room for an ornamental garden, a few weeds, mushrooms, and just on the other side of the Cherokee graveyard boundary, the forest crowds against the fence, with a multitude of species mutually surviving, often benefiting from one another.

The granite and marble gravestones also tell a geological story, as well as being a foundation for lichens and moss. The old stones have some quaint verses and speak of historical journeys from faraway places...and miners who didn't make it home. Take a cemetery hike to be informed about nature and history.

Near Oroville there are a number of small pioneer graveyards of interest, most notably the Thompson Flat and Pioneer Cemetery side by side, the remote and wild Hamilton/Moore Cemetery near the river, where John Bidwell confirmed gold in 1848. A fenced 12 by30 plot is stuck in the lovely blueoak hills above the Longbar mining camp memorial, and one of the few graves is of Arron Boone, grandson of Daniel Boone!

I have given nature walks in Oakland, CA's Mountain View Cemetery, where an impressive array of famous people rest, including celebrities on 'Millionaire Row,' and nearby are the less wealthy, all buried in the same soil no matter the amount of money. A great variety of trees have been planted there, representing all parts of the world, nesting birds taking advantage, unconcerned about nationality. One of my hike groups got to see a rare red fox, whereas the gray fox is the norm.

I am reminded of visiting Death Valley, and writing about “Life in Death Valley,” where many species have adapted and live there, even a Pupfish in the hot stream flowing out of a large spring! Successful evolution has not been to the strongest, but to the most adaptable.

A massive number of living creatures have died on earth, hence a great number of graves and cemeteries exist around the world. Communities around the country all have their cemeteries, and battlefields everywhere are subject to unmarked graves. In the circle of life and death in nature, most animals are killed and eaten, leaving scant indication they have existed. Fossils are a miracle.

There is a nostalgia about cemeteries packed in with individual history speaking of a life that flashed forth like a spark from a camp fire before passing on to wherever sparks go. The inscribed stones are indicators that a particular person was born and died on earth, verified by the name was left behind: “Jo was here...” and did her particular deeds among the people.

John Muir had no qualms about cemeteries, musing I imagine, about the names on the stones and the life they represented. On his thousand-mile botanical walk in 1867, he camped a week in the Boneventure, Georgia cemetery, remarking what a peaceful nature retreat it was and that nobody bothered him!

“The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity. The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly.” --John Muir