Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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24 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 6.17 JUST SAYIN' POINT OF VIEW Dissing the Dead By Jack Welch Illustration by Carrie Neumayer Are cemeteries sacred or just parks with tombstones? In early May, a former Germantown resident implored neighborhood custodians on Facebook to "spread the word" that she and St. Michael's Cemetery, where sever- al members of her family are buried, were being gravely disrespected by joggers, cyclists and people walking unleashed dogs. "I have NEVER seen anything like this. It's really hurtful," she wrote. In reply, one Facebook commenter asked, "Is this really a problem? . . . lol." Another declared that "jogging, riding bikes and walking dogs is pretty common in most cemeteries." A third thought the recre- ational activities were fine "as long as you're not messing with the headstones or being disrespectful during a funeral." A fourth joked, "I hardly think the cemetery residents care . . . lol." After one person expressed empa- thy with the aggrieved woman, noting that "I was taught respect as a child and it lacks with the next generation," an angered young Germantonian replied, "Please don't start on 'this generation'. . . In generations before, cemeteries were used as parks and full of life; how is that not beautiful?" And she's right, to some generalizing degree — so-called urban "garden cemeteries," developed in the 19th century, pre-dated big city parks and invited leisurely walks there, if not aerobic cycling or playing fetch with your dog. Millennial disregard for convention notwithstanding, cemetery recreational use has become a timely topic with the brouhaha last fall over biking in Arlington National Cemetery. Not wanting the sa- cred military resting place turned into "an exercise track," its directors have nixed cycling there unless it's a family member riding in to visit a gravesite. Still, it's easy to see how confusion could arise over recreational use of cemeteries. Expedia touts biking tours through famous Spring Grove Cemetery north of Cincinnati (founded in 1845, three years before Louisville's activity-outlawing Cave Hill Cemetery). And one of the tourist-draw- ing features of Decatur Cemetery just outside Atlanta is its bike-riding welcome mat. Heck, former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins wrote a poem about the ecstasy of cycling through Palm Cemetery in Winter Park, Florida, that ran in the Atlantic. So I ask, just what are these peaceful pieces of green acreage — silent, somber grounds meant to stay that way, or splen- did retreats from urban crowding, where runners and riders and Rin-Tin-Tin can raise their pulses to their hearts' content? HOME