Are You a Taphophile?
According to the website Taphophilia, "Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile". All genealogists must go through a stage where visits to cemeteries are enjoyable as we search for and hopefully find the final resting places of great and great-great grandparents, long lost cousins and etc.
For some of us, a trip to our ancestral homeplace always includes trips to the cemeteries, revisiting familiar headstones, and wondering about the people whose lives they honor. A visit to the cemetery with a neophyte is sure to include tale after tale, connecting stone after stone as we stroll from one ancestor to another.
Apparently, many of our our ancestors were true taphophiles. Mary McCart states that, from the late 1800's to just after World War II, cemeteries were used like parks for family get-togethers and picnics. She notes that some cemeteries still promote activities other than burial such as the over 60,000 marriages performed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Tapophile or not, your local Springfield-Greene County Library can assist you in your genealogical research.
Find this article at http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=1420&lid=52&view=print