Monday, March 19, 2012

New Museum

Clearly, I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by touring Laurel Hill Cemetery. Not precisely a museum, but I'm calling it close enough.

Laurel Hill Cemetery is the nations second oldest rural cemetery. All of the church plots in town were getting full, so a group of people came together and purchased land on the outskirts of Philadelphia to provide more space for burials. It's HUGE. It sits on 78 acres. There are still plots available, if you're interested.

We signed up for a St. Patrick's Day tour, tasting, and toasting. So, we had a tour of the cemetery, followed by a meal of ham, cabbage, and potatoes, some cookies, and some beer. The tour alone took two hours, and could definitely have been longer. Our tour guide is also a civil war buff, and General Meade is buried there, so we learned a lot about him. Harry Kalas is buried there, too. His headstone is a broadcaster's microphone and some seats from Veteran's Stadium. I had no idea he was there. The views are spectacular. It's on a ridge above Kelly Drive, so you can look out right over the Schuykill River. I highly recommend taking some time to see it.

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