And the final day of ‘vacation’ writing has come. On Monday, I wrote about my favorite places, and yesterday I wrote about the Poe Museum. Today, I will talk about my favorite place to visit in Virginia: Hollywood Cemetery.
I know, it’s weird and creepy and freaky, having a graveyard as a favorite place to visit. But I love it.
It’s full of history. So many stories are told there. Let me tell you one of the stories: there’s a statue there known as the Iron Dog. It’s a dog made of iron, who knew. It stands guard at a toddler’s grave. There are versions of the story of how it got there, why that specific child, etc. The most well-known, and perhaps well-loved, story is that the Iron Dog was created for a decor purpose pre-Civil War. The cemetary was able to save the statue from becoming canon balls in the Civil War. It was placed on a young girl’s grave, who was said to have often pat the dog when she saw it. Since then, people visit the dog and the girl, and they leave small toys and pennies. Every time I visit, I do too.
And the architecture is a wonder. There is a large pyramid made of stone. There are well-crafted crypts. Some headstones are absolutely beautiful. There is this one stone in the cemetary that I always visit because I marvel in the work put into it. It’s a weeping woman with flowing garment, located next to one of the Presidents’ graves. Oh, yeah, two U.S. Presidents are buried there.
But mostly, I like the peace. Everywhere else in Richmond and Virginia and, well, just everywhere there is noise. People yelling, being rude, catcalling, leaving messes, and other disruptive things. But graveyards are a different world. No one goes to be disruptive. It’s quiet. It’s a good place to think.
I’m made fun of quite a bit for loving a graveyard so much, but I don’t care. Enjoy going places you like to go to without judgement.
Hugs
Alexandra
Alexandra TG 