Essay On Arlington National Cemetery

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Cemeteries are a place for people to bury their loved ones for them to rest to be visible and visitable later. People chose the location of their burial sites very carefully. Some people chose their cemetery because of its proximity to something meaningful (childhood home, family memory, current location) or to honor something greater (soldiers being buried at Arlington National Cemetery). Although the cemetery itself may have meaning, the gravesite within the cemetery itself can also be very important. The tombstone can be a sign of class, wealth, or nationality with the location and design of the tombstone. For my fieldwork was centered around the cemetery which my grandfather was buried at, and it shows the progression of a community of people and tells some ways to …show more content…

The cemetery my grandfather is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in the New York City area. It’s filled with people of all backgrounds and nationalities that came to the city and surrounding area. It has become home to many people as it was created in 1917 and it’s still active to this day, showing exactly one hundred years of progression. The location of the cemetery’s first plots is important to begin with, because New York City is an urban and central hub for lots of the world, the cemetery being outside the city in Westchester County is done on purpose. A cemetery can be a somewhat depressing sight, so it’s placed away from everyone and where they will only see it if they travel out to. It creates a separation between “us and them” (233). Because of the large number of residents from New York City are buried there, the cemetery’s origins start the progressive story of how it grew. The beginning of the cemetery tells a great deal about who was living there at the time. The original tombstones had all of the last names seemed to be

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