Southern Graves

Sorry for the delay in posting the latest popular posts. The weather is starting to cool, and I am out and about more than usual in recent months. As a reminder, the most popular posts over the life of this blog (according to Blogger stats) are in the right sidebar. I believe readers have found this feature useful, since some of the most viewed posts over the last thirty days can also be found in that list. I sincerely appreciate all of you looking around for more content. I have almost 500 posts you can wade through. :-) Back to the current "most popular" list: - Undertakers, Coffins, & Furniture - Southern Cross of Honor - FamilySearch Indexing Find for Saturday Soldier: Charles Stevenson - William Weekley Drowned in the San Diego Bay (& My First Experience as a FamilySearch Indexer) - In Hoc Signo Vinces: the Knights Templar - Funeral Mound of the Mississippians - Love, Life, and Truth - More than 100 Photos from Evergreen Cemetery Now Onli...

Remember Henry Chaple ? He was one of two brothers from a New York regiment that were captured at Plymouth, NC during the Civil War. They were both sent to Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia. Henry survived, but his brother did not. When I photographed Henry's grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Fitzgerald, Georgia, I had no idea of his story. After I returned home and learned more, I decided I wanted to also pay my respects to the brother that did not survive. His name was Alfred Chapel. We headed down I-75 yesterday morning. It was raining, and the forecast was not great. I was determined to go, however, since various things had interrupted my plans in recent weeks. I was armed with Alfred's grave site number that I had obtained online, as well as a map and my digital camera. At some point, before we reached Andersonville, I began to wonder about Alfred's arrival to the prison camp. Since he was captured in April 1864, it is very close to being exactly 146 years ago. Was i...

During a recent visit with my aunt, I was reminded that I had not blogged about our most recent road trip. "I've been tuning in," she said. Sounds like a polite way of saying, "I'm waiting." So here we go to Charleston, South Carolina. I actually have blogged about the trip to Charleston last year in a few snippets. I'll link to them throughout. The first great thing about our most recent road trip was the hotel. We stayed at the Francis Marion Hotel . It's a historical hotel, first opening in 1924. The Francis Marion underwent a $12 million National Trust award-winning restoration. I loved it. The only drawback I noticed was the bathroom was small. Didn't bother me, though. The view was fantastic. You could see much of downtown Charleston and the harbor. In the picture below, the steeple in the distance is from St. Philip's Church (more about that later). The Francis Marion has a nice restaurant called the Swamp Fox. They...

I've been thinking lately that it's time to write about road trip #4. Then I remembered -- I already did! I wrote about our trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the post White Oak Flats Cemetery about five months ago. If you missed it the first time, it's new to you!

On the Road Again! For road trip #3, us girls decided to go to Savannah, Georgia. Unfortunately, we were not able to spend a whole lot of time there. In fact, we would arrive in Savannah around 10pm one day, and have to leave mid to late afternoon the next. That's less than 24 hours! You know what that means -- we had to prioritize . Before I get to our respective objectives, let me tell you what my Aunt did. Before we even journeyed to Savannah, she made it clear that she would NOT go on a ghost tour. Therefore, I didn't bother lining one up. Upon arrival in the beautiful city and cruising the historic downtown area, we saw many tours ongoing. My Aunt then thinks a ghost tour would be OK since there are groups and much is out in the open. Now she often asks, "When are we going back to Savannah to take a ghost tour?" Whatever. We've moved on. ;-) Back to the main story. The three of us each had an objective, all to be completed before we returned ...

Road Trip #2 started with a surprise. You see, my Aunt really enjoys Billy Currington. I'll say it again, she REALLY enjoys him. A few years ago, Mr. Currington was on tour as the opening act for Brad Paisley. They came to Columbus, Georgia, and my uncle surprised my Aunt with tickets to the show. In fact, enough tickets were purchased to enable me, my Aunt, my Mom, my Sister-in-Law, and my Niece to go. Woo Hoo! [On a side note, I'm sure my uncle was happy he didn't have to go. The whole method to madness thing.] We all piled into the SUV and headed south. We were fortunate to be staying overnight after the concert, so we would not have to drive the long way home that same evening. My brother graciously got us room in the Marriott. This was a treat for two reasons. #1 - it was in an old building, and I just love that. The hotel was built (with refurbished, original brick) around a restored cotton mill that began operations in 1861. #2 - there was a Starbucks in...