The Ordinary, Extraordinary Cemetery

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In honor of Veteran's Day, Jennie and Dianne sit down with the executive director of Wreaths Across America, Karen Worcester, to learn how a serendipitous mistake led to National Wreaths Across America Day, and the mission to Remember, Honor and Teach by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at more than 3,400 additional locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad.  In many homes, there is an empty seat for one who is serving or one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. From the Revolutionary War to present day conflicts, Ordinary Extraordinary veterans are devoted sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. They come from all backgrounds in life to place those lives on the line for our freedoms. There are millions of individual stories to tell and that is what Wreaths Across America devotes time and energy to not only during the holidays but year round. 

To learn more about Wreaths Across America or to donate a wreath, visit their website: https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/

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Dianne and Jennie are joined by special guest Janet Richardson from Fairbanks, Alaska who shares stories of those buried in Fairbanks's first cemetery and shares many of the details of the years of restoration and preservation that has kept this cemetery alive. Clay Street Cemetery, formerly called the Fairbanks Cemetery, was established in 1903, the same year the city of Fairbanks was established on the banks of the Chena River. Here are buried people from all walks of life from local Native Americans to the first pioneers who came from all over the world to the Fairbanks area, most seeking their fortune in gold.  In 1982, the cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and The Clay Street Cemetery Commission was formed. The commission has spent countless hours researching every Ordinary Extraordinary individual buried here and making sure their stories are not forgotten by engraving them on beautiful granite headstones often provided by members/businesses of the Fairbanks community.

For more information on Fairbanks history and The Clay Street Cemetery, visit: https://www.fairbanksgenealogicalsociety.com/

To help support Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York with your $5 donation click here: https://gofund.me/062c87d8

To watch the video of our adaptation of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, click  here: 
https://youtu.be/uWaWbg4C82s

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Join Jennie and Dianne for this very special Halloween edition of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast. Grab your favorite warm beverage, turn the lights down low, and curl up with a cozy blanket as we visit the legendary village of Sleepy Hollow where rumor claims a Headless Horseman roams the countryside by night searching for what has been lost. Washington Irving's creepy tale of love and loss has been adapted and performed by phenomenally talented actors live at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver on September 17, 2022 and  Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs on October 7th & 8th, 2022 in order to help raise funds for the preservation of four of Colorado's historic cemeteries and now they bring it to you for your listening pleasure. Happy halloween!

Thank you so much to all the actors who lent their time and talent to bring this classic tale to life. The actors are, in order of appearance:

1. Dierdra Knickerbocker performed by 
     Holly Haverkorn
2. Baltus Van Tassel performed by 
     Emanuel Wright
3. Katrina Van Tassel performed by
     Casper Johnson
4. Brom Bones performed by
     Logan Donovan
5. Ichabod Crane performed by
    Chris Scarciotta
6. Headless Horseman Laugh performed by
    Chris Scarciotta
7. Village Lass performed by
     Laurilea McDaniel

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Dianne and Jennie are joined by not one, not two, but seven special guests on this episode to talk about Washington Irving, his life and his writings. Our guests are professor Tracy Hoffman who teaches Early American Literature at Baylor University and her  students who are specifically studying Washington Irving this semester. We learn about Washington Irving's early life, the tragic loss of his fiance, his love of history and travel, and one of the most poignant moments in his life when he met the man he was named for... George Washington. Join us for this discussion of the Ordinary Extraordinary man who wrote "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and inspired this year's Beyond the Grave event and led Jennie on a very recent trip to Sleepy Hollow, New York to visit his grave.

To learn about the Washington Irving Society, visit their website  at:
https://washingtonirvingsociety.org/

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Jennie and Dianne are joined by Drifter and Gypsie of the Rebel at Large Adventure podcast for a special Friday the 13th...err... Thursday the 13th visit to the Hope Moravian Cemetery, located in Hope, New Jersey. This cemetery is featured in the movie Friday the 13th in which its high arched, cast iron front gate, with the name lettered through the arch, has become iconic with horror movie fans. However,  Hope, New Jersey is one of the earliest planned communities in America, having been established by German Moravians in 1769. This Ordinary Extraordinary community suffered its share of hardships, triumphs, and spooky superstitions.

To hear more from Drifter and Gypsie, be sure to subscribe to their podcasts, the Rebel at Large Adventure Podcast and The Worn Out Boots Podcast, visit their websites:
https://rebelatlarge.com/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/rebelatlarge.com/2022/09/07/the-worn-out-boots-podcast/amp/

Resources used to research this episode include:
Snat, Brian. "Moravian Cemetery - Hope, NJ." https://www.waymarking.com/. 19 Apr. 2010. www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm8MFJ_Moravian_Cemetery_Hope_NJ. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

"Friday the 13th Filming Locations ." https://fridaythe13thfilms.com/. fridaythe13thfilms.com/bts/locations/part1/. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

French, Mio. "History of Hope, NJ." http://www.innatmillracepond.com/. www.innatmillracepond.com/history.php. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

Ptacek, Kathryn. "Stones of Silence ." https://njskylands.com. njskylands.com/hschurchwc. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

Gormly, Kellie B. "The 1980 Slasher Movie ‘Friday the 13th’ Was Filmed at This Boy Scout Camp in New Jersey ." https://www.smithsonianmag.com/. 26 Oct. 2021. www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-1980-slasher-movie-friday-the-13th-was-filmed-at-this-boy-scout-camp-in-new-jersey-180978933/. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

"Who are the Moravians? ." http://www.hopemoravianchurch.org. www.hopemoravianchurch.org/who-are-the-moravians.html. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

Reports, Staff. "Hope conducts Memorial Day services ." https://www.therepublic.com/. 30 May 2022. www.therepublic.com/2022/05/30/hope-conducts-memorial-day-services-2/. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

Macdonald , D., & McAdams, N. (2015). The Woolverton Family 1693-1850 and Beyond. (Vol. 2, 945) Lulu.com.

Rosenfeld , Lucy D., and Marina Harrison . History Walks New Jersey: Exploring The Heritage of the Garden State. Brunswick , Rutgers University Press, 2006, pp. 77-79.

Archives, Moravian. "A brief history of the Moravian Church Southern Province ." https://www.moravian.org/. www.moravian.org/southern/2018/05/a-brief-history-of-the-moravian-church-southern-province/. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

New Jersey , Preservation . "Hope Village ." https://www.preservationnj.org/. www.preservationnj.org/listings/hope-village/. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

N.J., Weird. "Shades of Death Road ." https://weirdnj.com/. weirdnj.com/stories/shades-of-death-road/. Accessed 18 Sep. 2022.

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This episode should have been an episode with a group of very special guests, however, technical difficulties made that impossible so instead, join Jennie and Dianne for a trip down memory lane and enjoy the performance of our first ever Beyond the Grave event which featured Cemetery Wanderings with Edgar Allan Poe! We thought this was appropriate as it will air the day before our second Beyond the Grave: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which we will be bringing to you just in time for Halloween 2022. So, Grab your favorite warm beverage, turn the lights down low, and curl up with a cozy blanket as we wander through the cemetery to meet some of Edgar Allan Poe's most scrupulous characters.

If you are in the Colorado Springs area and would like to purchase tickets for 2022's Beyond the Grave: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, please follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-grave-presents-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow-tickets-402403950047?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

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"Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world." This is how Washington Irving describes his imaginary village of Sleepy Hollow in New York, that over time was made real in his honor.  In this episode Jennie and Dianne are joined by Sleepy Hollow's superintendent Jim Logan and tour and event director, Christina Orbán-La Salle. They share the Ordinary Extraordinary history of New York's famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the stories of those buried beneath its soil from Washington Irving, the author who inspired the name of the cemetery and the village itself, to some of America's wealthiest Victorian socialites such as the Astor and Rockefeller families.

To learn more about Sleepy Hollow Cemetery or to book a tour, please visit their website : http://sleepyhollowcemetery.org/

If you are in the Colorado Springs area and would like to purchase tickets for 2022's Beyond the Grave: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, please follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-grave-presents-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow-tickets-402403950047?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

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Dianne and Jennie chat with special guest Ahna Wolff. Ahna took a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland over the summer in order to study, but she made time to visit four of Edinburgh's most historic cemeteries: Old Calton Cemetery, New Calton Cemetery, Canongate Kirkyard, and most famously known, Gray Friar's Kirkyard. Ahna shares her impressions of each cemetery, her favorite graves to visit, including the graves of some of Scotland's most prolific writers and philosophers, such as David Hume, Adam Smith, and Sir Walter Scott; as well as Scottish poets Robert Burns and Robert Ferguson. Join us as Ahna relates Ordinary Extraordinary tales of famous dogs, graves that inspired J.K. Rowling's characters in the Harry Potter series, and a very surprising connection to an American born US president.

If you are in the Colorado Springs area and would like to purchase tickets for 2022's Beyond the Grave: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, please follow this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-grave-presents-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow-tickets-402403950047?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

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Dianne and Jennie have often discussed cemeteries that have been moved, meaning the dead have been disinterred and moved to a new burial site. In this episode they cover just such a story that took place in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado on August 22, 2022 and caught the attention of many local cemetery enthusiasts across the state. They discuss what led to the move, the process of reburial, and they delve into the story of the Sisters of Loretto, an order of Ordinary Extraordinary Catholic nuns who dedicated their lives to God as religious women and educated poor children.

To see video of the recommittal ceremony, follow this link: https://youtu.be/AnVgtxjpi0k

Video biography for each of the 62 sisters:
https://youtu.be/mU4iRBnGHWc

For a complete list of resources used to research this episode, please visit our website:
https://www.theordinaryextraordinarycemetery.com/

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Jennie and Dianne look back through the first 99 episodes of The Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast. They discuss some of their favorite episodes, highlight clips from memorable moments with guests, and share comments and reviews from listeners. Many thanks to all those who have listened and contributed to these first 100 episodes! We are so grateful! Join in the celebration of the dozens of Ordinary Extraordinary stories told, histories remembered, and a look at what's to come for the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast. (Please forgive us for a longer than normal episode, we just couldn't help ourselves when it came to sharing what we feel is the best of the best to date.)

To learn more about Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Tomb Guards visit: https://tombguard.org/

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