Finding Color Amid the Gray at Holyhood Cemetery

From Dave Brigham:

A graveyard, for me, is a crap shoot.

I find a cemetery, especially an old one with plenty of shade trees, lichen-covered headstones and obscure Biblical names, to be quite peaceful. I am respectful, treading away from where I believe the coffins are interred, and apologizing if I mistakenly misstep.

I didn't spend time in graveyards as a kid. My ancestors were buried in places far flung from my small Connecticut town -- Springfield, Massachusetts; Worcester, Vermont; Brooklyn, New York. As an adult, I walk through cemeteries with some regularity, but not to spend time with long-gone relatives. No, I walk past tombs, vaults, statues and busted headstones seeking out photo opportunities.

With many of these oases of the dead, I find that the grave markers look quite similar: two to three feet tall, made of dark stone, carved with a religious symbol (a finger pointing to Heaven) or message ("SAFE IN JESUS FOLD") or indication of military service.

I recently ventured to Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Mass., mainly because it was close to where I'd dropped my son off for a hike. I figured I'd check out the chapel there, and maybe spy a few cool gravestones to make photos of.

I found quite a bit more than I'd expected, thankfully, and plan to return to take in more.

The Fitzpatrick Chapel was erected in 1862, just five years after the cemetery was laid out. "The stone building was designed by Patrick Keeley, the noted architect who designed many mid-19th century Catholic churches including the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston," per Holyhood's web site. "It is Gothic Revival style derived from an English Gothic country church."

It's quite lovely. Holyhood's layout "reflected the mid-19th century influence of romantic landscape cemetery planning begun at Cambridge's Mt. Auburn Cemetery in the 1830's," according to the web site. "It was the first such cemetery in Brookline. The name Holyhood was derived from the term used to designate the winding sheet in which the body of our Saviour was surrounded before interment."

Many of the graves I walked past and photographed during my short visit are for Irish Americans, many of them, I suspect, immigrants or first-generation citizens. Among the famous folks buried here are Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy, patriarch and matriarch of America's royal family; Massachusetts Governors Maurice Tobin, Foster Furcolo and Edward King; and George Wright, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and golf course designer.

I set out to find contrast, and I found plenty of that.

(I love the green door set against the gray mausoleum.)

Most of the colors (besides gray) that I focused on were the result of oxidizing metal. I don't know enough about metals to know which type is used for gravestone plaques. I know that copper, iron, brass and bronze are among the metals that turn a greenish color with long-term exposure to the elements.

(Man, that star.)

(I'm not at all religious, but I appreciate a nice icon.)

Not only am I an atheist, I'm also a heretic, because when I see Jesus on the cross, all I can think about is the scene below from Monty Python's "Life of Brian""

More lovely contrasts....

In just about every old cemetery I visit, I find busted gravestones.

I've walked through plenty of graveyards, but I've never seen a grave with the name below.

The name is apparently more common than I realized. It's used for a line of menswear, grocery store components and by a woodcut printmaker.

I think it also represents the value expressed when people say, "His number was up. Yup, he reached one killion."

A few more stones of note....

A woman with a sword.

This was the first crypt I saw. I'm not sure whether someone broke in...or out.

This slab is for a family named Amrhein. Until writing this post, I assumed the name was Irish, since there is a well-known restaurant and bar by that name in South Boston, and one of my wife's law school friends, who is very Irish American, once worked there. The eatery was established in 1890, and has the oldest hand carved bar in America and the first draft beer pump in Boston, per its web site. Since Southie used to be an Irish stronghold, I made an assumption. Turns out the name is German and Alsatian, according to Ancestry.com

I don't know if the folks buried here are from the family that started the restaurant. I wrote about Amrhein's in November 2018, when there were fears the restaurant would be shuttered (see November 17, 2018, "Southie to Lose An Institution"). The latest news comes from June, when the building was sold -- yet again -- to a group that plans a multi-use project that will keep part of the Amrhein's building, and erect a five-story building comprising office/lab space, as well as restaurant and retail footage, according to this article from The Real Reporter.

There are a lot of Mark Twain-looking busts and plaques in Holyhood.

Every tomb I saw was a traditional stone crypt, fashioned in the 19th or early 20th century, either built into a hillside or hulking on the ground, looking like something out of a Gothic tale of woe. Except one.

This vault for the Stewart family is the most modern one I've seen in any cemetery.

(Detail from the Stewart crypt.)

I'm going to wrap up with two graves of note.

James Jeffrey Roche was an Irish-American poet, journalist and diplomat, born in Ireland in 1847. He and his family emigrated to Prince Edward Island, Canada, when he was young. By age 19, he'd moved to Boston, where he found a job with the Boston Pilot, an Irish newspaper at which he eventually rose to editor-in-chief. Towards the end of his life he served his government in the diplomatic service as American consul to Switzerland, according to that linked article.

My favorite grave marker is for John Boyle O'Reilly, another Samuel Clemens look-alike, and one with quite a back story.

This plaque is located on a boulder under some shade trees. Quite nice. "Born in Dowth [in 1844], O'Reilly moved to his aunt's residence in England as a teenager and became involved in journalism and shortly after became involved in the military," per Wikipedia. "He left the military however in 1863 after becoming angry with the army's treatment of the Irish, and returned to Ireland the same year. In 1864 he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood under an assumed name and was part of the group for two years until he and many others were arrested by authorities in early 1866. After a trial the same year he was sentenced to death which was later commuted to 20 years' penal servitude. In 1867 O'Reilly was transported to Western Australia and moved to the town of Bunbury where he escaped two years later."

OK, that's a whole life already by age 24. But O'Reilly was just getting started. He made it to the U.S. and soon moved to Boston. "It was in the US, during a time of intense economic and social turmoil, where O’Reilly’s brilliance flourished. As editor of The Pilot, a Boston newspaper, he became a powerful advocate of the rights of workers and African-Americans. He retained a strong commitment to Ireland and was an important part of the Land League and Home Rule movements," according to JohnBoyleOreilly.com.

"O'Reilly was one of the most famous literary figures of his day, publishing four volumes of poetry and two novels," including Moondyne, a novel; poems "The Cry of the Dreamer" and "The White Rose"; and a collection, "Songs from the Southern Seas."

He has been recognized in modern pop culture. On its Rattle and Hum album, U2 performs a song, "Van Diemen's Land," which references and is dedicated to O'Reilly. The county Clare folk singer Sean Tyrrell has set a number of O'Reilly's poems to music, according to Wikipedia. His mugshot is included among other infamous criminals featured on wine bottles produced by 19 Crimes.

Bourne On the 7th of July

From Dave Brigham:

Ah yes, I am Bourne again!

No, I haven't accepted Jesus Christ as my savior, folks, but rather I have discovered another corner of the westernmost town on Cape Cod. I vacationed in Bourne's Pocasset village for many years, and have written posts about that area, as well as other parts of the town (see bottom of this post for links). Although I now spend my Cape time in neighboring Sandwich, I still drive through Bourne, and recently shot some photos along Route 6A in the Sagamore section.

Years ago, I fell in love with the Shingle Style church along Sandwich Road (Route 6A), at the corner of Westdale Park. On July 7th, I finally made some photos.

Dedicated on June 6, 1926, St. Theresa of Child Jesus served a parish filled with Italian immigrants, many of whom worked at the Keith Freight Car Manufacturing Company, which was located in the area. "In the 1880s, the various departments and plants of the Keith Car Works spanned approximately one and one-quarter miles and employed 968 people, not including office or management personnel," per MACRIS. There was company housing nearby, as well.

The freight car outfit closed up just a few years after the church was built, putting hundreds out of work. In the 1930s, the U.S. Government bought the plant and tore it down to make room for widening the Cape Cod Canal to 540 feet, MACRIS continues.

The Fall River Diocese closed St. Theresa on November 23, 2008, citing "the expectation of fewer priests, declining vocations for the priesthood, rising diocesan expenses and limited financial resources," per the above-linked article. In recent years, it was home to a thrift shop. Currently, it sits empty. I hope a new community will find its beauty irresistible.

A short walk away is the Sagamore Cemetery.

"Although the Sagamore Cemetery wasn’t incorporated until 1889, its first recorded burial took place in 1803," according to this Vacation Cape Cod article. "The plot is the final resting place for numerous Civil War soldiers and at least 29 former sea captains, making it a historically significant facility, even without the ghost stories."

Ghost stories, you say?

"In 1909, when the Cape Cod Canal was still under construction, 17 bodies from the Collins Farm Cemetery and 45 bodies from the Ellis Cemetery were moved to Sagamore to make room for the project," the article continues. "Officials marked the caskets with chalk, but a storm washed the names away before a reburial could proceed. As a result, officials had to guess at some identities, and there’s a non-trivial chance that some caskets are under the wrong headstones. The thought is that the spirits that continue to roam the cemetery can’t rest until the proper names are attached to the gravesites. Their restlessness is driving the ghost sightings."

I was there for just a few minutes, in broad daylight, and didn't seen any spectral beings. Darn.

The word "Sagamore" means chief, or leader, in various Native American languages. In addition to this area of Bourne, the word is also used for the one of the two bridges that spans the Cape Cod Canal.

"The bridge and its sibling the Bourne Bridge were constructed beginning in 1933 by the Public Works Administration for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates both the bridges and the canal," per Wikipedia. "Both bridges carry four lanes of traffic over a 616 feet main span, with a 135 feet ship clearance. They opened to traffic on June 22, 1935.

On the opposite side of the road, I spied the top of the faux windmill that marks the location of an outlet of the Christmas Tree Shops.

Founded in the 1950s in Yarmouthport, on the Cape, as the Christmas Tree Gift Shop, the company grew to include several stores in Massachusetts and New England, per its web site. In 2003, Bed Bath & Beyond bought the local chain and grew it outside New England. "In 2020, a new chapter began, as CTS became an independent company owned by Handil Holdings. Under our new leaders, Pam and Marc Salkovitz, we operate 80 stores in 20 states with plans to introduce ourselves to new communities."

The few stores I've seen locally have these fake windmills, alongside buildings that look like Swiss chalets. I'm not sure if all the stores share that motif.

Now for a random photo.

I don't think I've ever seen a repurposed traffic sign, a ghost sign, if you will. The original message was SPEED LIMIT 20, but it's been covered with NO PARKING COMMERCIAL VEHICLES. Municipal finances must be tight in Bourne.

OK, another random one.

I wonder if this King Cab Chevy still runs. Looks pretty good.

Next is the Harlow Pope Inn, a classic Greek Revival Home dating to 1835 that was renovated in 2004 and turned into a charming vacation spot.

As bed and breakfasts go, the Harlow Pope is small, with just two bedrooms and a common room.

There is a "For Sale" sign outside the Quaker Process Printing Company building.

Established in 1950, the business produced letterheads, envelopes, business cards, announcements, wedding invitations, and attorney stationery for customers throughout New England, per its Facebook page, which hasn't been updated in more than two years.

I want to wrap this up with a place that is still in business, and whose sign I have had my eye on for years.

Dr. Gregory Bodrie works out of a large former home (or perhaps part of it is still a residence) right on Route 6A. According to this CapeCod.com article from 2015, he also regularly does rounds at several local hospital and nursing facilities.

For more about Bourne, see below:

August 11, 2020, "What You Find When You Go Down Depot Road"

July 19, 2020, "Kickin' It Old School-house"

July 20, 2017, "Circling Buzzards Bay"

October 3, 2016, "Bourne Identity"

August 5, 2010, "Dark Side of the Motel"

July 28, 2010, "Two Hearts Beat As One"

Hyannis Revisited: A Little Something About the Kennedy Clan Here

From Dave Brigham:

I lied to you.

Last year, when I published about Hyannis, the main commercial village of the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod, I said that neither that post nor the follow-up would feature anything about the Kennedy clan, who maintain a compound two miles southwest of the shopping district, right on Hyannis Harbor (see September 25, 2021, "Absolutely Nothing About the Kennedy Clan Here").

So let's get my brief mention of America's royal family out of the way, shall we?

Along the Kennedy Legacy Trail, you can visit the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum; the so-called Kennedy Church, St. Francis Xavier on South Street; a Peace Corps memorial; and other sites.

I happened across a wall of large photos of the clan along the side of the Sturgis Charter Public School, which is located at the corner of Main and Pearl streets, and couldn't resist making a photo.

(Joseph and Rose Kennedy with eight of their nine children.)

I didn't know last year that I was lying, so sue me.

OK, moving on.

Speaking of folks with a few bucks to spend, how about George Holbrook, an early 20th-century Richie Rich whose "cottage" and water tower overlook East Beach.

"It began as a water tower and artesian well providing water for the people of Hyannis Port," according to this CapeCod.com article. "Overlooking East Beach it was also a landmark for sailors traversing Nantucket Sound. It became so well known as such that a plaque reading ‘Landmark’ was placed on the tower."

As for the house: "The prime parcel of land in Hyannis Port was developed as a summer estate for George B. Holbrook in 1905. Holbrook was born in September 1846 in the town of Swanzey in the southwest corner of New Hampshire. At the age of fifteen he joined the army and fought in the Civil War, rising to the rank of lieutenant. He would live as a resident of Springfield, Massachusetts eventually becoming the president of the American Writing Paper Co.

"Holbrook would enlist another Springfield resident, George Wood Taylor, an architect, to devise the plans for his Hyannis Port estate. Taylor would go on to build several homes in the village. In September 1910 the estate would burn down in a fire while Holbrook and his son were back home in Springfield. His wife Ellen and their two daughters were there in Hyannis Port but escaped unharmed. The nine-bedroom cement home would be rebuilt by Taylor in time for the summer of 1911. The incredible home would be featured in the July 1, 1912 issue of the popular Country Life In America magazine. Holbrook would retire in 1913 and enjoy his stately home on the water until his death in 1922."

A sign outside the water tower indicates that is being restored. Check out historic photos at the link above. I stumbled across this place after driving past Toad Hall Classic Sports Car Museum, and deciding I wasn't up for a visit.

It's kind of hard to escape the Kennedy name just about anywhere in Massachusetts, but never more so than in Hyannis, of course. As I rambled down a side street to check something out, I noticed the riot of signs seen in the photo below.

"AVENGE JFK'S DEATH" I saw, along with plenty of ridiculous and dangerous ideas. I focused on the YARD SALE sign as a possibility that this person isn't completely off the rails. In a parking lot across the street was a very cool old delivery truck, nicely restored for a local business..

The Local Juice was founded in 2014, and serves up cold-pressed juice and organic foods. As for the truck, it was made by International Harvester, which manufactured the International Metro Van from 1938 to 1975.

The westernmost point on my tour of Hyannis was the Melody Tent.

Opened in 1950, the Melody Tent -- sister venue of the Music Circus in Cohasset -- was the third musical tent to open in the United States, after ones in New Jersey and Florida, per its web site. The tent hosts oldies acts such as the Little River Band, Three Dog Night and KC & the Sunshine Band; comedians including Paula Poundstone and Bob Marley; tribute bands such as the Electric Light Orchestra Experience and Badfish: Tribute to Sublime; and newer musical acts such as country star Chris Young.

Not far from The Local Juice stands a restaurant with a chimney that would look more at home on a small factory.

The Karibbean Lounge's food looks great on its web site. The eatery is attached to the Hyannis Plaza Hotel, which in the recent past was known as the International Inn, and offered a feature called "Cuddles and Bubbles."

Try not to get grossed out by the promotional video below:

As for that chimney...there was a restaurant here called the Copper Chimney Bar & Grill. Other than that, I can't find out much about the building. I assume there is a massive fire place inside.

There are plenty of hotels and motels scattered along Main Street in Hyannis. One that stuck out to me is the Cape Cod Inn, with its accompanying Duck Inn Pub.

While the inn seems like a pretty standard Cape Cod hotel, the pub has an attitude that I like.

"The Notorious 'DUCK INN PUB', Cape Cod's only year-round UpScale Dive Bar from 8am to After Dark Outlandishness," its web site declares. "It's the Hip Locals Bar of Black & Rouge Reflections and Chest Pounding Pride in selling 16 oz. PBR's. The 'DIP' is not another anonymous bar of self-depicting frozen mugs, smudged mirrors & gummy floors. It's a rough around the edges Hideaway with fairly priced drinks, pool, pinball, jukebox and a solid guest list of local and national legends."

I'll have to hit that place one of these days, along with the nearby 19th Hole Tavern that I profiled in my Hyannis post from last summer.

Adjacent to the Courtyard Resort, which is bordered by North, Winter and Main streets, is a building whose roof style I recognized right away.

Look familiar? If you said, "Howard Johnson's," you're right! Now condominiums, this quirky building was once the office for a HoJo's motel that is now the Courtyard. "The original motel office was constructed as a separate building, and has been converted to condominiums," according to MACRIS. "Despite its conversion, it retains some architectural elements typical of Howard Johnson's motel construction. These include a steeply pitched roof and intersecting gabled wall dormers with overhanging eaves. A cap located on the center of the roof likely served as the base for Howard Johnson's typical futuristic cupola."

Futuristic cupola, as Dave Barry would say, would make a great band name.

While I've never stayed in a motel in Hyannis, years ago I took part in some fun and games with my wife and kids in the building shown below.

During the brief years when my kids were still into playing video games and pinball, we visited the Wackenhammer Clockwork Arcade at the corner of Main Street and Pine Avenue. I don't recall, but at least one of my kids may have ridden the carousel that was outside. Unfortunately, the pandemic put this place out of business pretty quickly, in May 2020. I'm not sure how long it was in business.

(Mural on the side of the Wackenhammer Arcade building.)

The folks who ran the place obviously really loved it, as they continue to maintain a Facebook page, where they post occasional articles about women in science or other Cape Cod attractions or, most recently, a fantasy fiction story about Professor Wackenhammer, Occult Detective.

As for the building, it is known historically as the G. Robinson House and Loriana's Toy Shop and Book Store. The house was built around 1900, per MACRIS, and several additions have been put on over the decades. In the early 1920s, the hosue was converted to an antique store, but in the following decade, it reverted back to a residence, MACRIS indicates. In the 1940s and '50s, the building operated as Loriana's Toy Shop.

I hope something similar to an arcade or toy shop takes over the space.

Steps away along Main Street is The Egg & I restaurant, which is housed in a neat English Revival building.

I'm unsure whether this breakfast place is part of the chain owned by First Watch Restaurants, and frankly, I don't care. What I care about is the building, which was erected in 1925 as a commercial property. MACRIS doesn't offer much in the way of history of this place, which was restored in 1992 to bring it back to the original look it had until a 1968 project.

Further east on Main Street is Torino, a restaurant specializing in Italian food and wine.

I love the boldness of the bull, even though it makes me think of Spain, not Italy. Across Main Street and a little ways up is The Little Sandwich Shop.

The awning and the lights made me think of a marquee, which made me think this building was once a theater. I searched "Hyannis theater history" on Google, to no avail. But good old MACRIS did a solid for me. "The fifth shop front is very narrow and has a canopy that angles up more sharply and out further than the other canopy. This intact shopfront has recessed glass and metal doors, and features large cabinet windows which flank the doors and create an interesting sculptural effect."

The building dates to 1950. The sandwich shop is a family-run operation.

Where Main Street meets Barnstable Road there is an Odd Fellow's Hall.

(Rear of the Odd Fellows Hall.)

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cape Cod Lodge 226 was founded in 1972. I love spotting fraternal organizations and social clubs, and feel like the Odd Fellows are second in number only to the Masons.

Last, but certainly not least, is Jack's Drum Shop.

Located across from the Odd Fellows, the shop claims to be the "oldest ongoing drum store in the country." Founded "around 1945" in Boston, the instrument dealer was run by Jack Adams, who "was an active drummer on the local scene," per the shop's web site. This store in Hyannis opened in 1988; the Boston shop closed 20 years later.

The building rose in 1915 as "a luncheonette, ice cream and candy shop located next to the Idlehour Theatre," per MACRIS.

For more about Hyannnis, check out my post from August 3, 2015, "Steak in the Future?"