Day 6 - Regrets

Back when I was a young puppy, I was in the Navy.  My first ship (USS Canopus AS-34) was stationed at the Naval Submarine Base, King's Bay, GA.  The lovely little town there is St. Mary's.  What I remember (that was back in 1992-94) was a quaint little southern town, complete with trees dripping with Spanish moss and cobbled streets and gorgeous historical homes with white picket fences.   Also located in this Mecca of the Deep South (remember, I live in Michigan!!) was the Oak Grove Cemetery.

I don't know what suddenly brought this place to mind.  And I honestly didn't remember the name & had a good chuckle when I Googled it.   But I knew I had the right place when I searched for images.  Look at how magnificent this place is!  I remember it being so creepy with the drippy moss and the sun didn't seem to be as hot when you entered through the gates.

I don't know who took all these photos (I got them off Google).  But they're stunning.

There is a lot of history in this little place.  Soldiers from all major wars, founders of nearby towns, numerous mass graves from a yellow fever outbreak in the 1800s. And when they started this, there was a section for white people & another section for black people.  I was just reading an article speculating on how many unmarked graves are in there.  Records, if there even were any, were kept like "Joe Bob was buried under the camellia bush".  Kind of tough to find him if there's 20 camellia bushes! 

One in particular stands out in my mind.  It was an above-ground crypt, about the size of a modern-day casket.  There was an entire family in there!   I recall it was odd how the names were listed.  A young woman listed first.  Her toddler son.  Her father.  Her brother.  An uncle.  Odd. 

My regrets are that I didn't take a camera with me when I visited !!!!  And I really have no reason to go back there in the foreseeable future!  WAAHHHHHH!