I think cemeteries are great places to visit; you can honor the dead, learn some history, and with the older ones, appreciate the art of the tombstones. One of the saddest cemeteries to me is this one in Mission Hills. Formerly known as Calvary Cemetery, it became the victim of vandals back in the 1960’s. By the 1970’s, the city made the decision to remove all the tombstones, leave the bodies, and dump all the headstones into a ravine, save for a handful that were deemed historically significant. Hard to believe? Well, it’s true. If you visit the area today, it is called Pioneer Park and unsuspecting kiddies cavort over the bumpy terrain. Yes...bumpy. Just like something out of the movie “Poltergeist.”
Here you can see at the very back of the park are the remaining headstones; I would have loved to have heard the City of San Diego playing “eenie-meenie-minie-moe” as they attempted to determine which tombstones to keep and which ones to remove.
A marker was placed in the ground with the names of all those buried below; I guarantee you that the majority of people who use this area don’t even notice this marker...and even if they do, probably don't realize what it means. “I play over dead people!”
Here are a few creepy shots I took the other night:
Fortunately, my great-grandfather’s headstone was rescued at the last minute from the dump and is now at the Lemon Grove Historical Society Museum.
The City of San Diego’s justification was that all the families were notified. Bull#$%^. I’d like to think that something like this wouldn’t happen today...
See more cemetery photos at my website.
