Using gardening as a metaphor for living... This blog is how some plants & flowers, creepy things, and the dead brought me back to life.
Last night I hosted a Cemetery Happy Hour with authors Loren Rhoads Denise Tapscott and Chris LaMay-West focused on the forthcoming book DEATH'S GARDEN REVISITED: RELATIONSHIPS WITH CEMETERIES. We had so much fun discussing cemeteries in Louisiana, Arkansas, California, and Maryland. I asked my guests to go a bit thematic with their drinks and connect them to their pieces in the anthology- each beverage represents a cemetery or grave.
Cheers!“If there's a book that you want to read,
but it hasn't been written yet,
then you must write it.”
- Toni Morrison
I love cemetery maps and visitor guides and I have quite a collection. They’re heavily focused on military heroes, founding fathers, political leaders, and the who’s who in that region’s history. I quickly scan guides to find the famous or infamous females who helped build a region’s history. More often than not, from the dozens of entries, there are usually only a few women mentioned rendering the majority of women invisible. Women’s history should not be limited to a specialty tour.
In 2020, I made a point to create my own guidebook. When cemetery tours were suspended for COVID-19, I started doing research and traveling to cemeteries across the state of Virginia.
I’m super proud to share that my book project provisionally entitled Women Writers Buried in Virginia Cemeteries was accepted for publication by the editorial board for The History Press/ Arcadia Publishing. As of last Thursday, I’m officially under contract.
The book features forty women writers buried in twenty-two Virginia cemeteries. It is scheduled to be published by Women’s History Month (March 2022).
Last night I was working on some research and I casually
read a poem by Margaret Junkin Preston because it's called "A
Grave in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond (J.R.T.)" and I laugh because I
immediately believe I recognize the initials because JRT isn't common at
all, right!
As a little back story, I often walked by his marker reading the epitaph and wondering, “Who are you John R. Thompson?” It’s an obelisk much like the others surrounding it in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery; yet, the inscription always made me stop and read it again.
Born in Richmond, VA. 23, Oct. 1823,
Died in New York, 30. April 1873.
To the graceful poet, the brilliant
Writer, the steadfast friend, the
Loyal Virginian, the earnest and consistent Christian.
This monument is erected
As a token
Of admiration and affection
By his
Northern and Southern Friends.
As an English professor, I love stumbling upon writers and poets who are no longer in the literary canon. John R. Thompson is one example. In 2017, I wrote a blog post on Thompson and his grave. Just a quick recap, John Reuben Thompson was born in Richmond and by 1847, he purchased the Southern Literary Messenger and became its editor. You might recognize that paper because of Edgar A. Poe who had been the editor a decade earlier. Also, happy birthday to Poe! Tomorrow he turns 212!
Unlike many Virginians of his time, Mr. Thompson did not take part in the Civil War citing health reasons. Ironically, many of his works are considered “war-poems.”
Margaret Preston, who is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Lexington, Virginia wrote for the Southern Literary Messenger during the editorship of John R. Thompson. I know this thanks to 1872 biography.
But wait, just a few minutes ago I discovered that John R. Thompson endorsed that collection the 1872 biography was in. That would have been a year before he died.
I love imagining what Hollywood Cemetery looked like when Margaret Preston walked by Thompson's grave and then decided to write a poem about her experience.
