Sentimental Sunday: Neighborhood Cemetery

Cemetery in my Neighborhood

Having recently connected to a childhood friend (three actually) through Facebook, we have been sharing stories and memories about the place we grew up and the schools we went to. It is a lot of fun. I have been digging around the city directories and the census to bring to them some historical information. I really like doing this. 


Yesterday, one of those friends asked me about the cemetery in our neighborhood. Cemetery? Wow, I didn't remember any cemetery! What I did remember is the memorial rock and the large flag with flagpole. I used Google Maps to search the "Plat" as it was called and found the area easily. Yes, they looked like gravestones but I wasn't sure.


Finally, using the Rhode Island Cemetery Database, I found the name of the "cemetery" so I could find it at Find-a-Grave. Yahoo! Yes, it is a family graveyard. Wow,  Thomas Andrews Lot. RI Historical Cemetery, Cranston # 34.


I realize WHY I don't remember the gravestones. They face the busy street of Oaklawn Ave. Even when I was a kid, this was a busy street. The gravestones are bounded by a chain fence. Sure, it is easily crossed except that when I was a kid none of us would have DARED be seen inside a resticted area. Some adult would have seen us. They definitely would have yelled at us and told our parents. It is what people did then. Maybe they should do it now? Parents were not upset then that adults disciplined children in their neighborhood. Mothers were mostly home. Bad news traveled fast.


As a junior high ("middle school") and high school student, this was the location where the bus picked us up and brought us home. My mother didn't drive. I walked in all kinds of weather to the bus stop. The great part was this was also the location of the Del's Lemonade stand. Mr. DeLucia, owned the stand and kept watch over us kids in that area of the "plat". The Auburn Post has a memorial page which is great.


As I looked at the gravestones placed there, I see that the family name is ANDREWS and that Col. Abraham Andrews was a Revolutionary War soldier. [FYI: RIM means Rhode Island Militia]


I am really surprised that I don't remember the dedication since it took place in 1957. I was 10 years old. Now, to ask the neighborhood kids what they remember. Yikes, this could be a whole blog.


I wonder what this area looked like when they buried these people there. What do any of us know about the place where we grew up? I'll bet you didn't expect to see this in my blog.