"Tales of the Crypt"

This last weekend I went to “Tales of the Crypt” located in Fairview Cemetery by my house. What a way to learn about the history of this little knock about place!

I learned that the cemetery was recently placed on the National Historical Registry. It has Confederate soldiers, slaves, criminals, and the town founders buried there. The earliest grave there was one of De Soto’s men from as early as the late 1700s.

Tales from the crypt is the reenactment of six persons who are buried in the cemetery. They dress as the person did when they were living and tell a story about their accomplishments, trials, family, and anything else about their lives. It was fascinating learning about each them. One in particular was a man named Dr. Addison Bourland. He was born in Alabama 1825 and lived all over the south. His grandfather was granted some land in Arkansas before it became a state. He went to University of Nashville, which is now Vanderbilt. He spoke six different languages and even though it was taboo to educate girls in his time period, he taught his daughter and she grew up to become a French scholar. He passed away in 1913…the year that my grandpa was born.

All of the “actors” stood above the graves and talked about their loved ones and it got me thinking of all the wonderful stories that I have of my own ancestors buried in the cemeteries in Utah. I love genealogy and know so much and yet so little about them.

It would be really fun to hear stories of yours and see pictures of them if you have them. Maybe our ancestors were friends or helped each other on their way to Utah. Maybe they were together in Far West or Nauvoo. Maybe they were friends with Joseph Smith. Maybe they shared food with each other during the depression. Maybe they took one another in when they arrived in Utah for the first time. Maybe they were accomplished and maybe they were just a fruit farmer.