Everyone loves graveyards! Right? Probably not, unless you’re the The Addams Family. But if you put aside some of the preconceptions associated with it like death and loss, you would see beautiful gardens where time stands still, a portal to a whole new world. Poetic! What I’m trying to get at is that Western culture makes us believe that death is dark and grimy, and ultimate suffering (blame it on Christianity) and so is everything associated to it. But it is also balance and the finding of inner peace, and to me it’s sometimes part of what it feels like to go to a graveyard, to confront something that we were taught to fear, and accept it as part of life. Add this up to the fact that if you’re a tourist, you can also go to a cemetery for grave hunting – what I call searching for famous people’s graves. So you see, there’s a lot of activity in a cemetery (no pun intended).
Lake View Cemetery
The cemetery showcased today (there will be others later) is the Lake View cemetery in Seattle. I went there for the first time during my first days in Seattle when I lived there. It’s next to Volunteer Park and near a viewpoint to Lake Washington. What I didn’t know at the time was that it is also the resting place of Bruce and Brandon Lee. So when I went back to Seattle 2 years later, I made that a “must see”. Now I must say that it took me some time to find the graves, even with help to scout around because they’re a bit hidden, but that just adds up to the fun. There’s a map with the location of the graves, but don’t click on it unless you want to be spoiled. You’ve been warned. SPOILER ALERT! Bruce and Brandon Lee graves
In memory of all veterans of the United Stated Armed Forces
The cemetery is located in one of the highest points in Seattle so you can have a panoramic view of Lake Union, Lake Washington and the Puget Sound. Overall it is not a big cemetery and you can walk around it within an hour. Have a look at some of the graves’ art, statues, etc. There will a lot of Asian graves as the Pacific Northwest had big Asian immigration flows. On the northern side of graveyard there’s the Nisei War Memorial Monument, dedicated in 1949 to Japanese American veterans, and some of these veterans’ graves.
Taken before Michael Jackson's death - A sign?
If you want to do more grave hunting than the Lees, check for other famous Seattleites buried there. It is also a cultural game since for each one you’ll find you will have another piece of the region’s history. You can make a list from the internet before going there. Another thing I like to look for is for homonyms of live people or some other exotic names – somehow, knowing that they existed is keeping them alive and immortal, at least in my memory.
The grave of Bruce Lee
If you’re around Seattle, go there on a sunny afternoon, relax a bit, and have a walk around. I guarantee you that you’ll come out of there feeling light, free, and appreciating life even more, for all the good reasons.
Lake View Cemetery Association
1554 15th Ave E
Seattle WA 98112
USA
Phone: +1 206 322-1582
Fax: +1 206 322-0523
Email: office@lakeviewcemeteryassociation.com
Hours:
Cemetery Hours are 9am to dusk daily
Winter Hours: 9am to 4:30pm
Spring Hours: 9am to 6pm
Summer Hours: 9am to 8pm
Yeah I love cementaries, no joke. Often they’re as peaceful and beautiful as parks. It’s always fun to make grave rubbings (if done in a respectful unharmful way), and being the freak that I am I love to read the stones and think about the lives of the people who died and their relationships to those buried with them. It’s also fasinating to see how graveyards differ from culture to culture: an Italian graveyard for instance, where they place pictures of the deceased right in the headstone, is different from an Austrian one where they have wiry, metal crosses, though both countries are catholic.
Some of my favorite cemetaries include:
Boston’s Old Granary Grounds
cemetery in Victoria British columbia
cemetery in Berlin where Marlene Dietrich is buried
Pere Lachaise in Paris despite that really dumb movie in Paris Je T’aime
and the winner for most beautiful is the military burial ground on cabrillo point in San Diego.
Always check out the cemetaries when you travel!
Ugh did we figure out the picture thing and also I DO know how to spell fascinating.
In Romanian cemeteries they also put the picture of the person right on the headstone as well. I’m not sure if it’s cool or creepy.
I replied to the picture thing in the last comment you made – I said it’s probably because you have a wordpress account and you made your “gravatar” be that picture….that’s how we have that picture anyway.
We do the photo thing in Portugal too. Just wanted to say that.