FIVE FAVES ENCORE
Five Faves
History and mystery abound in local cemeteries BY LYNN HOUGHTON
L
ast fall my husband and I decided to start taking Saturday afternoon and Sunday drives. Our destinations became cemeteries, specifically those in Kalamazoo County. There were a few that I knew well that we could cross off our list, but what remained was a substantial number of cemeteries on the many lettered and numbered roads of this county. Starting in September of 2020, we spent more than six months visiting 40 cemeteries. Social distancing was not a problem on our travels, to say the least. Here are five of my favorites.
Schoolcraft Cemetery
U.S. 131 at Lyons Street, Schoolcraft
Riverside Cemetery
Gull Road and Riverview Drive Kalamazoo
You name it and Riverside Cemetery has just
I
t’s easy to forget as one walks through this township cemetery that a major highway is on its east side. It’s quiet and peaceful except for the occasional car horn in the distance. According to the county history, within 30 years after this cemetery's opening in 1843, it added close to 200 more lots. Many recognizable names of village residents can be found on the variety of tombstones. Dr. Nathan and Pamela Thomas, who operated a station on the Underground Railroad at their house in the middle of the village, are buried here along with three of their children. Despite the car exhaust emitted close by, most of the cemetery's marble tombstones are in excellent condition.
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about everything one could see in a cemetery, including three types: the garden cemetery, the urban cemetery and the memorial park. Purchased in 1861 by Kalamazoo Township, the cemetery was planned with three to four “serpentine” walks following the rise and fall of the land. St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church purchased land in the cemetery from the township in 1862, as did the Congregation of Moses in 1907. There also are several military sections for soldiers from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, including a soldier’s monument erected in 1901 in a section with Civil War tombstones. By far the largest cemetery in the county, Riverside has a wide variety of marble, granite and metal tombstones. It is now owned and maintained by the city of Kalamazoo.