I had no idea, but some internet sources say that 'graveyard' is used mostly when the cemetery is within a church ground.

I would say that a graveyard is next to a church. A cemetery can be any plot of land.

"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

Yes, a 'graveyard' is when a burial ground is adjacent to a church building and generally speaking, only members of that church, or their families, are allowed to be buried there. But a 'cemetery' is not located near a church and is often not affiliated with a specific church or religious denomination and therefore most anyone can be buried there.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

Interesting tidbit, thanks.

Rather morbid but worth noting - there have been many issues stateside with family graveyards on older properties in recent years. Shady buyers, sellers, and RE agents have removed many headstones to hide old burials so beware if you need to dig near an old home.

I have been working on my family history (as well as my wife's) for the last couple of years, using Ancestry. Headstones come in very handy for gathering information about long dead ancestors. It gets interesting when the information on the headstone does not match other available information, such as birth certificates.

DaveAtkins

Remember - don't buy plastic skeletons. Use locally sourced ones. The fresher the better. Happy Halloween.

As I've traveled, I've tended to stop and take photos of cemeteries and graveyards, sometimes in places with family ties but mostly just because it's interesting.

Like this snow covered cemetery in Houghton, MI:


November 1968 (Minolta SR-1)

Or this old cemetery near Saginaw, MI:


July 1969 (Minolta SRT-101)

And this weed covered cemetery in Pequaming, MI:


September 1970 (Minolta SRT-101)

Or this very well maintained cemetery in Rumbeke, Belgium, the village where my maternal grandfather was from:


May 1994 (Minolta XG-M)

And speaking of a well maintained cemetery, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia:


September 1996 (Minolta Vectis 25)

During another business trip, the American Cemetery outside of Cambridge, England:


May 1993 (Minolta XG-M)

My parent's graves in Lewiston, MI (note that my wife and I have a pair of cemetery plots just behind this plot, where the sun in shining):


July 2002 (Canon IXUS V)

And on one of my business trips to New England, a cemetery outside of Manchester, NH:


November 2004 (Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi)

While on vacation, the Johnson Family Cemetery at the LBJ Ranch in Johnson City, TX:


August 2007 (Sony DSC-H2)

Another vacation, Little Big Horn battlefield near Crow Agency, MT (this isn't actually a cemetery, but rather markers placed where the bodies were found. Most were buried in a mass grave nearby while Custer's body was taken to West Point where he was interred there):


October 2009 (Sony A100)

And this is the National Cemetery that was established at the Little Big Horn battlefield site years later:


October 2009 (Sony A100)

The graves of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, KS:


July 2015 (Sony A65)

The graves of Richard and Pat Nixon at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, CA:


February 2016 (Sony a6000)

The Miramar National Cemetery near San Diego, CA:


April 2016 (Sony a6000)

The graves of Ronald and Nancy Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA:


April 2016 (Sony a6000)

The graves of my wife's parents in a cemetery near Wapato, WA:


June 2016 (Sony a6000)

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific near Honolulu, Hawaii:


September 2018 (Apple iPhone 8)

A graveyard at St Benedict Catholic Church on the Big Island, Hawaii:


September 2018 (Sony a6000)

The grave sites of George and Barbara Bush at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, TX:


May 2019 (Sony a6000)

And now for some interesting tombs from around the world, starting with Grant's Tomb in New York City:


May 1964 (Kodak Brownie Starlet)

And of course the 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' in Arlington, VA:


September 1996 (Minolta Vectis 25)

And another 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier', only this one was just outside the Kremlin walls in Moscow, Russia:


April 1994 (Minolta XG-M)

And then there's Lenin's Tomb in Red Square, next to the Kremlin in Moscow:


April 1994 (Minolta XG-M)

And then we George Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon:


September 1996 (Minolta Vectis 25)

And then we have Akbar’s Tomb in Sikandra, India:


November 2006 (Sony DSC-H2)

And last but not least, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India:


November 2006 (Sony DSC-H2)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

Quote:

Custer's body was taken to West Point where he's interned there

Crikey, how long do you Americans hold a grudge?

Sorry, spell-check error

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

Is that by any chance the Lakeside cemetery in Houghton?

I have thought it might be useful to establish a worldwide network of photographers that for an outrageous price would go to a cemetary, find and photograph headstones as requested by the user group. Maybe such a thing exists already?

That cemetery in Houghton was the one near the campus of MTU. It's listed on the maps as Forest Hill Cemetery. It was up on the hill, between Daniel Heights (the married student apartments) and the football field (they only started to build the Student Athletic Complex my last year in school).

But speaking of photographing names from tombstones, I'll bet that there are people who'll get you a shot of names on 'The Wall' in Washington DC. I took this one myself, the name of one of my ROTC classmates who was killed in Vietnam, except that he was always 'Chuck' to us:


November 2004 (Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

John,
I have a question for you that does not pertain to this thread.
Some years ago in one of these forums you posted a picture of the side of a semi trailer (or something similar) that was erroneously painted with the words "PAINT PART NUMBER HERE" (or something like that).
I have looked everywhere that I could but cannot find the picture.
Do you still have a link to it ?

Thanks for the information on cemeteries and graveyards, it gives me something else to correct people on.
Visiting cemeteries on business trips looks like was an excellent thing to do.

Jerry J.
UGV5-NX1961

I vaguely recall it but I haven't seen that image in years. Sorry.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

"The Wall" is one of the best focused memorials that should give pause to anyone before firing up a war effort, though I doubt that many legislators have bothered to go. Look at it and know that another one war will make another wall and determine if their sacrifice will be worth their deaths. Worse, because medical care has improved, the ratio of those severely damaged to those killed has certainly gone up. I expect as many wounded from the last excursion in Iraq and Afghanistan as came back from Vietnam, but no memorials with those names, names which should be memorialized, will be put up as that would expose how little is done for the survivors.

Actually there is one, located right here in Irvine, CA:

https://northwoodmemorial.com/AboutUs/tabid/57/Def...

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

I think a national disaster needs a national memorial right in front of the portion of government that caused it. It's kind of Irvine to have one, but it's too easy for those responsible for future disasters to have it as a close and nearly unavoidable reminder. Perhaps in the US Capitol subway?

If you read the item I linked, you'll see that Irvine has a strong military heritage despite the fact that we're a relatively young city (incorporated in 1971). My wife and I have attended several Memorial Day observances at the current and the previous temporary memorial that was erected sort of overnight by a couple of families. The city gave them permission to use a corner of one of the city parks and within a year or so, an organized effort was underway to make it permanent, which the city finally agreed to. While we don't have a 'wall' we do have multiple 'columns' with the names of the dead inscribed on them, starting with the operations in Afghanistan in 2001 and later in Iraq and the rest of the Middle-East.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

All of them look like the 'dead centre of town'...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

I searched for websites with headstone photo databases and this is the only one I found so far. A Canadian site holding a crowd-sourced database of headstone photos.
https://canadianheadstones.ca/wp/

"William Roberts" popped into my head. I have no idea why. I entered it and surprisingly I got some hits.
Maybe he wants to talk to me.
That's creepy.