Ed’s Hollywood Cemetery Tour

Ed began his tour at President's Circle, overlooking the falls of the James River.

Ed began his tour of Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery at the heights of President's Circle, overlooking the falls of the James River.

James Monroe's Grave

The iron sculpture in the background marks the final resting place of President James Monroe, whose body was exhumed from his burial site in New York and re-interred here by the cemetery's founders. Having a president buried at Hollywood helped the cemetery gain notoriety in its early days.

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Ed contemplates his possible future burial site at the section of Hollywood reserved for presidents of the University of Richmond.

Branch Family Plot

Ed and Hunter McGuire in the Branch Family plot. The beautiful sculpture, typical of the rural garden style, romantically depicts a young woman drowsing as she spills poppy seeds on the family’s graves.

Confederate Memorial

This photo gives you a sense of scale with regards to the granite pyramid—erected in 1869—that memorializes the more than 18,000 Confederate dead buried at Hollywood.

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Grave Matters: A History of Death and Mourning | BackStory With The American History Guys :
[...] In this hour, the History Guys explore Americans’ changing attitudes about death. A Gold Star Mother explains why she thinks there should be more media coverage of military deaths in Iraq. Historian Drew Gilpin Faust talks about how the Civil War altered the American way of dying. And BackStory’s own Ed Ayers tours Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery — and visits his own gravesite (see photos here). [...]
Quote -- May 27, 2010 @ 12:46 pm