Hollywood Cemetery Walking Tours

From the Valentine Richmond History Center:

April 2 Highlights of Hollywood Cemetery (10-11:30am) WALKING TOURS
Monday – Saturday, April 2 – October 31
Learn about the cemetery’s history, artwork, symbolism and famous residents, including two U.S. Presidents, writer Ellen Glasgow, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals George Pickett and J.E.B. Stuart. Meet at the rear of the stone structure on the left at the cemetery entrance, Cherry and Albemarle streets.

April 8 Hollywood Cemetery (2-4pm) WALKING TOUR
An extension of the daily “Highlights” tour, this version covers in more detail the cemetery’s unique history, landscape design, architecture, symbols and residents. Meet at the cemetery entrance at Cherry and Albemarle streets.

Vampire, “Harvie’s Woods”, and Frozen Gringo

The History Is Elementary blog connects the dots with a post called Myths, Memories, and Music.

Hey, boys this is Hollywood. It ain’t home, but It’s home for good. We’d walk away from here if we could…never come back again.

And later in the song…..

Then General Pickett strode right up to me and in a troubled voice he said, “Ya’ll ain’t learned a damn thing from history….”

Kenneth “Skuggy” Glenn, R.I.P.

Kenneth Glenn passed away last week. He loved Oregon Hill and lived there all his life. He was 74. He will be missed by many.

The posted obituary:

GLENN, Kenneth Ellwood “Skuggy” Sr. 74, passed away Friday, February 17, 2012 at his home. He was preceded in death by his mother and father; one brother, and the love of his life, his wife, Emily “Boo” Glenn. He is survived by three children, Karen Jarrell (Kenneth), Kenneth . Glenn Jr.(Paula) and David Glenn; six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Linda Brannan and Birchie Church; nieces and nephews; and a host of other relatives and friends. He was an avid bass fisherman and enjoyed being on the water almost everyday. He loved his family and friends, especially his lifelong friend, Paul Lumpkin. A special thanks to Shawna Glenn who was there for him. The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, February 19 at Bliley’s-Central Funeral Home, 3801 Augusta Ave. A graveside service will be held at Hollywood Cemetery Monday, February 20 at 11 a.m.

Hollywood < > Hollywood Sci Fi Fantasy

I meant to post this earlier- Richmond Magazine writer Harry Kollatz Jr. explaining how Pixar’s latest connects to a Richmond cemetery mausoleum, or how the American Civil War met Mars, or how…well, here’s an excerpt (but you should really just *click here* to read his entire post on John Carter craziness):

In Burroughs’ telling, a telegram of March 4, 1886, summoned him to the Hudson River cottage of his uncle, Capt. John Carter, in New York state. But Burroughs learned that Carter, the direct descendant of Robert “King” Carter (1663-1732) of Shirley Plantation and a Confederate cavalry officer, had died that morning. Burroughs discovered in the cottage’s safe his uncle’s will, a hefty manuscript and detailed burial instructions. In accordance with these, Burroughs writes, he removed the body to the “strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond.”

Among Richmond’s “old” graveyards were Shockoe Hill at Hospital and Second streets, opened in 1822, and Hollywood, laid out in 1848. Hollywood is the likely candidate for a “strange mausoleum.” (And the name is prophetic, considering that John Carter has finally gone Hollywood.)

The burial directions included that Carter be laid in an open casket and that “the ponderous mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault’s huge door be accessible only from the inside,” as Burroughs wrote in 1918.

(My guess is that none of these details are in the film; maybe if it had been adapted by a cable network and shot like a Merchant-Ivory production or the 1984 release Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan of the Apes.)

Weirder than Carter’s elaborate last wishes, though, were the papers he’d entrusted to Burroughs. The narrative within described 10 years of adventuring on Barsoom — otherwise known as Mars — fighting for and against four-armed green men and, after numerous battles, marrying “the ever beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium,” not to mention becoming the great friend of Barsoomian warrior Tars Tarkas. Carter became a prince of the house of Tardos Mors and jeddak (emperor) of Helium on Barsoom.

Burroughs, a failure in almost every pursuit, began submitting “edited portions” of Carter’s writings as serialized fictionalized shorts in pulp magazines in 1912. These stories accumulated into 11 books published between 1917 and 1964.

Cue the movie trailer:

Happy Birthday, Mr. Bolton

From findagrave.com:

Birth: Jan. 24, 1843
Richmond
Richmond City
Virginia, USA
Death: Dec. 6, 1922
Charlottesville
Charlottesville City
Virginia, USA

Civil engineer; During the Civil War, Bolton served the Confederacy by helping to lay out defenses around Richmond, supervising and constructing the Piedmont Railroad from Danville, Virginia, to Greensboro, North Carolina, and constructing and subsequently destroying a pontoon bridge over the Potomac River following the retreat from Gettysburg; Following the war, he designed a 600 foot railroad tunnel under Gamble’s Hill in Richmond (1866-1867) and a 4000 foot tunnel under Church Hill (1872-1873). From 1876 to 1879 he was in charge of constructing a canal around the cascades of the Columbia River in Oregon, and in 1907 supervised construction of two railroad tunnels in the Rocky Mountains in Montana.

Hollywood Cemetery Continues To Fascinate

The University of Richmond student newspaper, The Collegian, had a story on Hollywood Cemetery this past week, while Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine also featured Hollywood Cemetery in a story on popular ‘running cemeteries’ in the the Southeast region:

Paved paths roll through small valleys and over hills in this cemetery with pockets of graves and memorials set amongst trees and shrubs. Hollywood sits on the edge of downtown Richmond, making it a popular run for city dwellers. Several vantage points inside the cemetery overlook the James River. You could stage an entire run within the borders of the 135-acre cemetery.

Famous Residents: James Monroe, our fifth president; John Tyler, our tenth president (famous for vetoing most bills passed by Congress in an attempt to keep federal government small); Lewis Ginter, inventor of the mass-produced cigarette.

Must See: The Pyramid, a 90-foot granite pyramid built in 1869 to commemorate the 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried there.

Ghost Story: The Poole Vampire breaks out of the mausoleum tomb of William Wortham Poole. Also, a cast-iron statue of a dog comes alive and roams the cemetery at night.

Anyway, if you missed the guided tour this morning, there are more coming up.