I'm writing this on Friday morning for Saturday morning, and it's been raining here for 12 or 15 hours now. We'll be leaving to drive the four hours up to Virginia Beach, just across the border in, well, Virginia (duh), during the middle of the day, to visit a friend up there. It looks like we'll have rain all day, at least on the immediate coast.
As I said yesterday, I took a walk around the cemetery in Morehead City a couple of days ago. Here are some photos. I was just enjoying being outside in the sun, and I was only vaguely looking around at the gravestones to see if I could locate the burial sites and tombstones of old friends and relatives.
I actually never did find my father's grave. He died in 1990 and is buried next to his own parents. I thought I knew where the grave was, but I wandered around for a while without locating the site.
I also haven't succeeded in finding any information about the history of Bayview Cemetery. The town of Morehead City was founded only in the mid-1850s, when N.C. Governor John Motley Morehead decided to develop the town as a new port for ocean-going ships. (The old sailing port of Beaufort, two or three miles to the east, was founded in the early 1700s.) Gov. Morehead sponsored the building of a rail line from the state's capital city, Raleigh, down to the coast and the town that now bears his name, at a distance of 150 miles or so.
So the cemetery must have been created sometime between about 1860 and the end of the 19th century. Right after the town of Morehead was founded, the American Civil War (1860-1865) broke out. Even though North Carolina seceded from the Union, much of the state's coastal area was occupied by Union (Northern) forces for most of the war years. The war and the occupation probably delayed a lot of local infrastructure projects.
Most of my grandparents and other ancestors, as well as many aunts and uncles and cousins I knew when I was growing up, are buried in Bayview Cemetery. It's actually a beautiful and peaceful final resting place.
In my opinion ii is a nice place to rest. The cementary is completely different from Polish one but looks fantastic. The nature is great there.
ReplyDeleteThat's a cemetery with a view. It rained here yesterday also, but the sun is up today, our!
ReplyDeleteIt does look like a peaceful place.
ReplyDeleteI have many cousins living in Virginia Beach. Wish I could pop in and say hello. Sue
I'm from Chesapeake VA. I have driven down 3 times. I found the graves of my ggma and some others.ive been searching for other ancestors but usually get exhausted .. I need to stay there for A couple of days. Lots of my ancestors are buried there
ReplyDeleteA lot of my ancestors are buried at the cemetery in Morehead too. What family names are you searching for? Good luck to you. Maybe the town has a map or a list of the names of people buried in the cemetery. I haven't lived there since 1971, and I don't even visit any more. I love the place though. Good luck to you.
Delete