Toronto Necropolis and Crematorium

[impulsereader]

For the sake of those who might be here strictly for the cemetery pics I'm going to do this slightly out of actual trip order - which bugs me a bit, but I didn't actually do too much in the morning; it's mostly a bunch of, 'huh, isn't that weird' and 'hee, that's sort of cool, isn't it?' pics. Also, due to constraints of time I haven't resized these so I apologize if anyone is having to scroll sideways.


To set the scene.







And a bit of wrought iron detail because I can.



All right. Let's see...I'm going to start with, 'best wording'. I did well in this category, we have a few winners who, oddly, were all grouped together. Not sure if they were all family, but if they were that's a fun Thanksgiving.







I honestly snickered a lot before realizing this wasn't intentionally funny. It would benefit from some punctuation.



A great little riddle of a headstone. This one puts you to work.



Just because they're pretty...







I could very well be wrong, but I'm not sure I've seen a pair of draped pillars before. Such a neat image.




So now I've gotten all paranoid about the size and quantity of the pictures added to the new expand/collapse feature (plus time again) so I'll cut this into two pieces. There's a whole little area where the founders or some such paid tribute to themselves as their headstones, it's hilarious. So, more still to come!

Comments

[quirkytizzy.livejournal.com]

These are amazing! The epitaphs are hilarious and touching and the draped headstone is gorgeous!

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Thanks much! It was really enjoyable afternoon. :-)

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Apart from the font on the draped monument (it looks very State-side for some reason to a Brit) that last photo could be a cemetery from over here. It looks very City Corporation Victorian with those obelisks (I have seen enough of those in Newport to know them very well) and I spy a War Grave in there too!

I wonder if it being Canadian makes it look more Old Country?

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Yes, the draped pillar is very American. We have a lot of those in Chicago. You're right, actually, we took a lot of cemetery pictures in England and even more in Ireland, and this one does line up nicely. I'd say the Canadian factor could definitely explain it. I noticed a number of epitaphs which noted the heritage of the deceased and England and Scotland were being cited.

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! I especially love the humorous ones.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was pleased to find the funny ones. I don't usually expect to see a bunch of those in one place.

[northernwalker]

I am still giggling at the inscriptions!

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Yea for giggling! It's fun to find the funny ones.

[pargoletta.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love old graveyards! I especially like it when I find contemporary gravestones that have a bit of an epitaph or show a sense of humor.

My favorites are really old stones, up to about the mid-19th century, because they have so much information, and sometimes a few hymn stanzas carved into them. They really went all out back then.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

It's really interesting how the Victorians just embraced death and the idea of erecting monuments to themselves and their loved ones once they'd died. They treated cemeteries sort of like we treat parks now. I love going on tours occasionally since we have such great graveyards in Chicago.

[19-crows.livejournal.com]

Thanks for these! I've never seen a draped pair like that either. Those inscriptions are great, that's what I go looking for.

I like how the wrought iron detail looks like eyes.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Oh, they do! They totally look like eyes, and come-hither eyes at that! Well spotted.

I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a draped pair before, but I've been through so many graveyards snapping away that I could easily be proved wrong - if ever anyone were to actually troll through all my untagged pictures...though, as I mentioned in another comment, that symbolism is pretty American so if I eliminate the British graveyards my odds of being correct probably double. :-) It's a really cool monument in any case.

I'm glad you enjoyed these!

[chloris.livejournal.com]

I do love a good inscription! You don't get them too often. And I love the sculpture right after the riddling headstone. So pretty.

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

The inscriptions are usually pretty ho-hum. I was surprised to find so many odd ones in one place. I'm definitely on the lookout today as I tackle my second Canadian cemetery. Maybe it's a Canadian thing? So far no luck, though.