Scene In Detroit: Underground Edition
By Amelia Kanan, CBS Detroit Blogger
The other day, as I was zig-zagging home through the D, I got a tinge to go visit my grandma's grave at Mt. Elliot Cemetery.
Growing up, my dad used to take my brother and I, but it had been awhile since I'd last gone. However, when I got there, I couldn't find her headstone.
This was fine because it was expected since I wasn't sure exactly where it was. Plus, I got preoccupied walking the grounds reading strangers' tombstones. It was like a library. The rows of headstones were like library shelves boasting titles of historical stories. Each name that was etched into a marker contained a story. Unfortunately, I'm not a psychic so I had to rely on the little information that I gathered from the grave and of course, my imagination.
Some were simple stories of an era, like a family that lived during the Great Depression. Some were familiar stories to those of us today, like the mother and father who had died long after their 20-year-son who had been killed in World War I. And some were just sweet, like an 87-year-old woman who died only months before her 85-year-old husband because he just didn't want to live without her (see where my imagination comes into play?)
It was the graves with flat gravestones covered in overgrown grass due to neglect that fascinated me the most. Who was this person? Do they still have family? Did they even have a family? Did they have anyone? Were they loved or hated? I tried to clear away as many markers as I could, just in case a cemetery wanderer like me came along and decided to say hello.
When I eventually got home that day I decided to look into Detroit's historic cemeteries and find the real stories that existed behind their gates. This is what I found:
Elmwood Cemetery (Est: 1846): Among heavy historical hitters like Lewis Cass, Coleman Young, and others Margaret Mather is laid to rest here. My interest in Ms. Mather isn't because she was the most famous Shakespearean access during the 1880's or so because she was married to an heir to Pabst Brewing Company but rather that her husband divorced her because she threatened him with a whip. For some reason, I empathized with that tidbit.
Woodmere Cemetery (Est: 1867): Woodmere isn't the oldest but boasts an impressive list of important names from history like Hamilton Carhartt, David Whitney, and David Buick who was not only the car man but he was also responsible for the invention of bathtub enamel.
Woodlawn Cemetery (Est: 1896): If a cemetery could be hip, this one would be the hippest in town with the graves of Rosa Parks and many Motown artists. It's actually so hip that Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder have their plots reserved there.
Mt. Olivet Cemetery: Leader of the Prohibition era crime family The Detroit Pertnership, Joseph Zerilli was buried here in 1977.
The Eastern Market (Est: 1834): That's right. This used to be the home of Russell Street Cemetery. However between 1880 and 1882, due to overcrowding and an urgency for land expansion, all 4500 remains were moved to Elmwood, Woodmere, and a cemetery in Grosse Pointe.
The city of Detroit is flooded with daily reminders of people who have passed away. Historical figures are unavoidable to Detroiters because their names are in the cars we drive, the buildings where we work or live, and the streets we use. However to the repetition of these daily usages, it's easy to forget that attached to those brands and names existed a person. A person who went to parties, worked hard, enjoyed the dinners their wives cooked, laughed with their friends and celebrated birthdays. A person who was someone's grandma, brother, cousin, wife or son. A person who helped make Detroit what it represents, in turn making us proud to be Detroiters.
Want to know more? The Night Train Detroit blog offers tidbits on local cemeteries and historic people.
Amelia Kanan is freelance writer/photographer and a returning native of Detroit. A graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, she wrote for an Emmy nominated sketch comedy show and pursued her passion for documentary filmmaking in Los Angeles. An incomplete list of her loves: books, human rights, improv, the smell of new shoes, talking to strangers, libraries, France, yoga, furniture, music, sociology and pushing the limits.
