My Favorite Cemetery Travel Books

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These books will help make any cemetery tour extra-special. Click on My Favorite Cemetery Travel Books to read my latest article.

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A Mother's Grief

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  Near the edge of Green -Wood Cemetery, a sculpture of a beautiful woman –Rose Guarino--reclining across stone steps stops visitors in their tracks. Open-eyed, with lips parted and long hair flowing, she is dressed in a flowing gown, and wearing sandals. She clutches a bouquet in her hands. For generations, Brooklyn locals have believed that the monument commemorates a mafia bride gunned down on her wedding day in a revenge killing. The true story behind the statue does involve a murder and is just as tragic.  In the summer of 1909, Dominica Merello and her daughter, Rose Guarino, were dining with family members on the lawn of their NJ summer home when Pietro Silverio, an irate domestic employee, rushed the women, gun in hand, to exact revenge for losing his job. As the women attempted to flee, Silverio gave chase and shot Guarino in the back.   She died three days later. Guarino's body was held for two years in the cemetery's receiving vault while the monument w...
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Serendipity in the Cemetery: Unearthing Unexpected Stories

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Some of my best cemetery finds have come my way through pure serendipity. Walking through a cemetery can be a solemn and, at times, an eerie experience. The silence, the weathered tombstones, and the weight of history all cast a mysterious cloak over the atmosphere. Yet, amidst the somber surroundings, there are occasions when serendipity sweeps in to unearth unexpected stories that lie quietly beneath the gravestones. Cemeteries are not solely the resting place of the departed: they are also a testament to the lives lived, the triumphs and struggles woven into the fabric of humanity. Each tombstone tells a unique tale, often with fragments of personal narratives that time has erased. But sometimes, amid the rows of weathered memorials, a serendipitous find sheds light on forgotten stories, connecting us to the past in ways we never imagined. One might stumble upon a gravestone adorned with flowers, meticulously maintained despite the passage of time. Curiosity piqued, we learn that a ...
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One summer day, while wandering the grounds of the Gate of Heaven cemetery, I came across an alabaster statue of Mary cradling Jesus in an open grassy field. The statue was striking, but the Greek surname on the gravestone, which is not often seen in Catholic cemeteries, caught my attention. There was also something faintly familiar about the name. I soon realized that I had stumbled upon the grave of Spyros Skouras, a movie executive and former president of 20th Century Fox Studios. I wondered how many others had passed by, unaware of who he was and what he had accomplished. Born to humble beginnings in Ilia, a small village in Greece, Skouras boarded a boat to America with two of his brothers in search of the American dream. He truly found it. The man who once sold popcorn in American movie theaters rose to become the president of 20th Century Fox. During his 20-year tenure—from 1942 to 1962, the longest in the company's history—he oversaw the production of major films such as Th...
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