You might find yourself wondering... "What does Caroline do in her spare time?"
She goes to cemeteries.
I present to you:
WOODLAND CEMETERY
Des Moines, Iowa
69 Acres
Over 80,000 Graves
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"A walk through Woodland Cemetery is a step through the history of the city of Des Moines."
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This is Nugget.
He's my road trip buddy.
We're partners in Spanish class.
I'm not very good at Spanish.
In our class, we're required to take pictures of us doing stuff and submitting them to an Instagram account for our class along with captions, in Spanish, describing the scene.
We decided to make these epic.
We also discovered we both have a love for the creepy and spooky stuff that's out there.
And soooooooo when I found this massive graveyard in Des Moines, we packed our backpacks and drove two hours from Iowa City to check it out!
Before the cemetery, we checked into this wicked hotel and...
well...
the hallways were a little daunting.
***Keeping in mind Caroline has a fear of long hallways***
TO THE CEMETERY!!!
Just entering through the gates, there were these beautiful angels on several of the graves.
Bearing in mind this cemetery was 69 acres, Nugget and I took our time walking quickly through the area. Walking so quickly because there was a lot to see and because it was a little creepy.
We did find this incredible statue of Jesus with open arms. He was stunning and one of the only figures in that general area. In complete honesty, I routinely turned to keep an eye on him because if any statue in that cemetery were to move... it'd be this one.
There was this statue that served as a gravestone.
Took us a while but yes.
It's a headless child.
We both took interest in this marker.
I've been trying to research the "ODD FELLOWS" and why they had their own section, but I'm afraid I do not have a concrete answer. If anyone knows, please tell me!
A few other pictures I took...
And there was this marker...
Neither of these pictures are mine, as I couldn't find the stones but also... I was there at night.
Here's the story:
"One of the unique resting places is that of Jefferson Scott Polk and his wife, Julia. On one side of their monuments is a stone with space for a candle; on the other side is the monument for three of their children who preceded them in death. Each child’s name was engraved above one of the pillows."
Another interesting story is as follows:
In 1886, 45 children lived and died in the orphanage called
"Des Moines' Home for Friendless Children"
Each one of these orphans was buried in a mass grave, with most bodies folded into peach and apple crates that were stacked one on top of the other.
Only a few of the orphans had names pinned to them, the rest were marked as "unknown."
I was also unable to find the mass grave, but similarly to the area dedicated to children under the age of one, some graves should not be disturbed with cameras.
My partner and I were very respectful of the cemetery.
We stayed on the path, kept our voices low, I routinely thanked the lingering spirits for letting us pass through, we didn't touch anything, and we didn't loiter.
As mentioned just before, we were also careful to not take too many pictures, but this experience, beauty, and history within this cemetery was overwhelming and I had to document the adventure.
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If you find yourself in Des Moines, Iowa, and don't mind the feeling of ghost eyes on you, I recommend stopping by this historic landmark!
