Dark sights in USA
-
Old Burying Ground
For a deeper look at local history, wander the Old Burying Ground.
reviewed
-
Historic Jail
- Litchfield, USA
- Sights › Dark
Just north across West St from the information booth is the town's Historic Jail.
reviewed
-
Garden of Memories Cemetery
Steinbeck is buried in the family plot at Garden of Memories Cemetery, 1 mile south of the center.
reviewed
-
cemetery
Also of interest is a large cemetery in the center of town, where spirit houses have been erected over many of the graves.
reviewed
-
A
Ancient Burying Ground
In the Ancient Burying Ground behind Center Church lie the remains of Hooker and Revolutionary War patriots Joseph and Jeremiah Wadsworth. Some headstones date from the 17th century.
reviewed
-
Cemetery
Residential neighborhoods, off the north end of Washington St, are lined with restored Victorian houses, and the spooky old cemetery at the west end of Jackson St has many graves from that era.
reviewed
-
B
Oakland Cemetery
Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell and golf great Bobby Jones are buried in the Oakland Cemetery. Many interesting Victorian and neoclassical monuments are scattered throughout the site, and - if it doesn't creep you out too much - there's a nice open greenspace for picnics.
reviewed
-
C
El Campo Santo
El Campo Santo, is a tiny, touching cemetery dating back to the earliest Spanish settlers. One grave near the gate was so placed because the man, 'Jesus the Indian', died while 'completely drunk'. The construction of San Diego Ave accidentally covered many resting spots, so you may notice some medallions marking grave sites embedded in the street.
reviewed
-
D
Edgar Allan Poe's Grave
Acclaimed author Edgar Allan Poe lies under a 1.8m (6ft) white obelisk in this churchyard. A literary giant whose horror novels continue to inspire authors and film-makers, Poe settled in Baltimore in 1831 and died in 1849. An admirer decorates Poe's grave with roses and a bottle of cognac every year on the anniversary of his birthday (19 January).
reviewed
-
E
Eastern State Penitentiary
Eastern State Penitentiary, opened in 1829, was controversial for a program that was meant to change behavior through solitary confinement and labor. Before it was abandoned in 1971 it held some of the country's most notorious criminals, including Al Capone. Today you can wander throughout the ancient cell blocks and even take a 'haunted' night-time tour.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
F
Russian Cemetery
Old headstones and Russian Orthodox crosses can be found in the overgrown and quintessentially creepy Russian Cemetery, located at the north end of Observatory St, or just squeak through the gap in the chain-link fence behind the princess' grave), where the drippy verdure seems poised to swallow up the decaying graves, like something out of a Stephen King novel.
reviewed
-
Hancock Cemetery
Hancock Cemetery is the final resting place of many notable Quincy residents, including most of the Quincy and Adams families. The Adams family vault, near the street, was the original site of the graves of the presidents and their wives, before they were interred in the Presidential Crypt. A map to Hancock Cemetery is available at the United First Parish Church.
reviewed
-
G
St Raphael's Catholic Church
St Raphael's Catholic Church, Kaua'i's oldest Catholic church, is the burial site of some of Hawaii's first Portuguese immigrants. The original church, built in 1854, was made of lava rock and coral mortar with walls 3ft thick - a type of construction visible in the ruins of the adjacent rectory. When the church was enlarged in 1936 it was plastered over, creating a more-typical whitewashed appearance.
reviewed
-
H
Old Jail
The aura of the Old West still lingers over Truckee's teensy historic downtown where railroad workers and lumberjacks once milled about in raucous saloons, bawdy brothels and shady gambling halls. Most of the late-19th-century buildings now contain restaurants and cutesy boutiques. The Old Jail, in use until the 1960s, is filled with relics from the wild days of yore. The visitors center has free walking-tour maps.
reviewed
-
I
Historic Truckee
The aura of the Old West still lingers over Truckee's teensy historic downtown where railroad workers and lumberjacks once milled about in raucous saloons, bawdy brothels and shady gambling halls. Most of the late-19th-century buildings now contain restaurants and cutesy boutiques. The Old Jail, in use until the 1960s, is filled with relics from the wild days of yore. The visitors center inside the Amtrak train depot has free walking-tour maps.
reviewed
-
J
Gold Rush Cemetery
Visitors who become infatuated with Smith and Reid can walk out to Gold Rush Cemetery, a 2½-mile stroll northeast on State St. Follow State until it curves into 23rd Ave and look for the sign to Soapy's grave across the railroad tracks. A wooden bridge along the tracks leads to the main part of the cemetery, the site of many stampeders' graves and the plots of Reid and Smith. From Reid's gravestone, it's a short hike uphill to lovely Reid Falls, which cascades 300ft down the mountainside.
reviewed
-
Hope Cemetery
Where do old granite carvers go when they die? In Barre, they end up in Hope Cemetery. To granite carvers, tombstones aren't dreary reminders of mortality but artful celebrations of the carver's life. And what celebrations! A carver and his wife sit up in bed holding hands, smiling for eternity; a granite cube balances precariously on one corner. Other gravestones reproduce the deceased's favorite soccer ball or even a small airplane. If a cemetery can ever be amusing, this one is. It's open to the living all the time.
reviewed
-
K
Princess Maksoutoff's Grave
Across Marine St, at the top of Princess St, is Princess Maksoutoff's Grave, marking the spot where the wife of Alaska's last Russian governor is buried. But for a strategically placed chain-link fence, the grave would be in the Russian Cemetery. But a bright and shiny sign proclaims this tiny three-grave site as the Lutheran Cemetery.
Cynics might postulate that the princess probably lost her status as a bona fide Lutheran when she married the Russian Orthodox governor, but now that she's a bona fide tourist attraction, the Lutherans want her back.
reviewed
-
L
Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale
- Los Angeles, USA
- Sights › Dark
This humungous cemetery is the final home of such Golden Age superstars as Clara Bow, Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart. Alas, many of their graves are in mausoleums and off-limits to the public. It doesn't help that cemetery staff strongly discourage star seekers. You can download maps from the internet (for example www.seeing-stars.com), but be discreet or risk having them confiscated. The grounds are still worth a visit if only to marvel at the country-club feel of the place and oddly impressive art such as a stained-glass version of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper.
reviewed
-
M
Green Hills Memorial Park
- Los Angeles, USA
- Sights › Dark
Amid the glitz and sprawl of Los Angeles, the port town of San Pedro (San Pee-dro) keeps it real. A slice of 1960s small-town America, its high street is devoid of chain-store clutter, down-to-earth locals ask how you're doing and actually mean it, and restored vintage cars time-warp you back to American Graffiti days. Despite some sprucing up, especially along 6th and 7th Sts in the historic downtown, an air of working-class grit remains, and so do many of the dive bars where Charles Bukowski probably ruined his liver. LA's late, great bad-boy poet now rests in Green Hills Memorial Park .
reviewed
Advertisement
-
N
Cemetery
The most solemn way to appreciate the effect of the mountain on Talkeetna is to visit the Cemetery, a restful spot set among tall trees on 2nd St, just off Talkeetna Spur Rd near the airport. Don Sheldon's grave is the most prominent, with the epitaph 'He wagered with the wind and won'. The Mt McKinley Climber's Memorial includes a stone for Ray Genet, despite the fact that his body was never removed from the slopes of Mt Everest.
The most touching sight, however, is a memorial with the names and ages of all the climbers who've died on Mt McKinley and neighboring peaks. Particularly grim was the annus horribilis of 1991, when 11 lives were lost.
reviewed
-
O
Forest lawn Cemetery
- Los Angeles, USA
- Sights › Dark
Pathos, art and patriotism rule at this humongous cemetery next to Griffith Park. A fine catalog of old-time celebrities – including Lucille Ball, Bette Davis and Stan Laurel – rests within the manicured grounds strewn with paeans to early North American history. Look out for the giant The Birth of Liberty mosaic, Boston's re-created Old North Church and bronze statues of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln or watch a movie about the American Revolution. Staff aren't helpful in locating stars' graves but you can download guides from the internet (try www.seeing-stars.com). More dead stars are at the original Forest Lawn in nearby Glendale.
reviewed
-
P
Lihu'e Lutheran Church
Atop a curvy country lane just off Kaumuali'i Hwy (Hwy 50)is Lihu'e Lutheran Church, Hawaii's oldest Lutheran church, a quaint clapboard house of worship, with an incongruously slanted floor that resembles a ship's deck and a balcony akin to a captain's bridge. German immigrants built this church, styling it after their own late-19th-century boat.
Completed in 1983, this building is actually a faithful reconstruction of the 1885 original, which was leveled in Hurricane 'Iwa in 1982. Fancying an afterlife with a view, the immigrants themselves now lie at rest in the church cemetery on a knoll overlooking the cane fields in which they toiled. Visitors are welcome to stroll…
reviewed
-
Q
Old Courthouse
Seaside of the banyan tree stands Lahaina's Old Courthouse, built in 1859. The location overlooking the bustling harbor was no coincidence. Smuggling was so rampant during the whaling era that officials deemed this theideal spot to house the customs operations, the courthouse and the jail - all neatly wrapped into a single building. It also held the governor's office, and in 1898 the US annexation of Hawaii was formally concluded here.
The old jail in the basement has been turned into the Banyan Tree Gallery and the cells that once held drunken sailors now display fine artwork. It's a fun place to walk through. One of the cells displays fascinating period photos showing…
reviewed
-
Makaluapuna Point
Makaluapuna Point, the northwest point of Oneloa Bay, is topped by a curious formation known as the Dragon's Teeth. The lava rock here has been cut by whipping surf into 3ft-high spikes that bear an uncanny resemblance to pointed teeth. It's a fun site to walk to and only takes about 15 minutes return.
En route you'll pass the Honokahua burial site, a 13.6-acre native burial ground; you can skirt along the outside of this area but don't enter any sites marked 'Please Kokua,' which are easily visible islets of overgrown native vegetation bordering manicured golf greens.
To get to the Makaluapuna Point end of the beach, drive north to the end of Lower Honoapi'ilani Rd, past…
reviewed