bookheaven | This Place of Silence: Ohio's Cemeteries and Burial Grounds

This Place of Silence: Ohio's Cemeteries and Burial Grounds by Ian Adams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a really nice 'coffee table' book that my library had out for Halloween. I'm a taphophile, someone who loves cemeteries so while I knew a lot of the history in here I didn't know it all. I've photographed in several of these cemeteries myself. It's not just a photo book of cemetery art. It has a fair amount of history. In order there is: Native Americans and early burials which is probably the longest of the chapters talking about Indigenous burial practices and frankly some of the horrible things the colonists did to them. It also compares some of the earlier burial practices of the Calvinistic Puritans vs what we are more familiar with today. The next chapter builds on this theme with looking into what are some of the most satisfying (to me) cemeteries, the Victorian garden style cemeteries and even into today's green burials (my plan).

It does have a chapter on graveyard art that I wished was a bit more robust. The architecture of these cemeteries and the mausoleums within is well covered. I particularly loved the chapter on the environmental importance of the old cemeteries. Some of them are the only remnants left of certain ecosystems (tall grass prairie for example is very rare today and much of it is in cemeteries) and their role in being preserves for endangered animals and important places for birds.

It goes on to talk about military cemeteries including bits about several wars, especially the civil and wraps it up with more unusual markers. I thought it was well done. People of interest (from celebrities to inventors to serial killers) are also explored. This book does exactly what it sets out to do to be a good reference of Ohio's burial grounds.

View all my reviews