In my wanderings through local cemeteries, I often wonder about the people under the headstones I photograph. Sometimes I know them, sometimes I don’t, but I always want to know more about them. To find out what sorts of lives they lived. To remember them.
Right now, Grave Stories focuses on the people buried in the Caspar Cemetery, which was established in 1850. The Caspar Cemetery is surrounded by a dense grove of trees, and it’s only a short distance away from the ocean. So close that you can usually hear the waves, and sometimes the shouts of surfers. Now and then, small brown rabbits hop about in the grass, which goes to show you how untrafficked this cemetery is.
If you know something about one of the people buried in Caspar, and want to tell his or her story, please contact me: meloukhia at gmail dot com, or add the story to the comments. I’m also happy to seek out specific graves you don’t see mentioned here. Please spread the word; this site will not be possible without reader participation.
Keith Penner
I was at my local Starbucks a few weeks ago hanging with fellow veterans. A couple I’d never met were there. I discovered one of them was born and raised in Ft. Bragg CA. I mentioned my grandparents were buried in the Caspar Cemetery. She later gave me your website information. My grandparents, on my mothers side of the family, are Albert and Viola Whalin. They were devout 7th Day Adventists and built their own home in the Oakland hills where they lived for many years before moving to the Fort Bragg area. Grandpa owned a contracting company with his brothers in the bay area. Among many projects, they built a CCC camp at Shasta Dam to house the workers that built the dam and worked on the bay bridge. Grandpa fell off the lower span of the Bay Bridge while working near the Oakland shoreline, went to the bottom of the bay and came up with a set of sharks teeth! Grandma, among many other pursuits, was a prolific artist who painted many watercolor paintings of the north coast and gold country areas of California. We believe some are still on display in one or more locations in Ft. Bragg.
Nov 10, 2010 @ 12:45 pm