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Written by John Ellingsworth
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Wednesday, 07 July 2004 |
I visited my mother's grave on Halloween, October 31, 2006, which is her birthday and from the moment I entered the cemetery by car with my husband to the point when we left, I was very scared to visit my mom's grave.
At the other entrance (opposite of Kingsessing) a group of suspicious people were partially blocking the road into the cemetery and very aggressively checking out my vehicle and its passengers. I continued straight ahead on the main road leading to the office and stopped my car and walked up to my family's plot. The road I used to take up to her grave is impassible with numerous, very deep pot holes.
Luckily part of my family is located near the main entrance and is minimally maintained, but my other family members are further back where you cannot even make out any grave markers due to the overgrown grass and weeds.
I am so sad that my family is buried there. I am 35 and I buried my mother in 1995 to be with her parents, who were buried long ago. Even back then the cemetery was a disgrace, but at 23, I didn't know what else to do, other than have my mother be with her family.
My entire mother's side of the family, all deceased now are buried there. I cry every time I go, not only for the mother and family members that I deeply miss, but for the condition of the cemetery that they are in. I have not been to the cemetery since having my first child 2 years ago and to now see it getting worse, when I didn't think that could happen is heart-breaking.
Headstones are pushed over, roads are terrible, fences or lack of have fallen down and do not keep out the vermin who live around and hang out in the cemetery. The owners of this cemetery should be ashamed of themselves and should relinquish ownership. This is completely unacceptable and you should not be afraid to visit your family.
I used to walk around the cemetery, visiting and just being thoughtful, amazed at the time span of life and death that has occurred here. I used to venture into older sections amazed that you could still make out the writing on some of the older markers, near where my great grandmother is buried. Just a feeling I can't describe goes through you as you walk around.
Well that feeling has been replaced with constant, nervous glances around fearing for my well-being, quick visits and sadness at the disrepair and utter neglect of this cemetery. Surely expenses are high, but the grounds could at least be maintained so people can visit there loves ones. Entire sections have been obviously ignored for years and you pretty much cannot navigate through or even find a loved ones final resting place.
I am one of the lucky ones in that I can find my mother's headstone and the grass in that area is mowed, on each occasion that I have visited, and it appears as if the surrounding section is visited frequently by the flowers and such left at the many stones around my mother.
It would be nice if the owners invested time into cleaning up the cemetery, maintaining the grounds, including grass, roads and fences. I don't expect them to be responsible for the safety of visitors, as that should be the Philadelphia Police department, but the continued disrepair invites in the criminals and provides plenty of room for their hiding and criminal activities.
I don't think I can even bare to return. With the city violence at an all time high, the number of people who hang out in the cemetery who aren't there visiting their deceased family members and the total lack of care at all levels for the cemetery, I am so tormented that my mother's family lies in rest there.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 25 March 2008 )
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