To the Cemetery

Back again! Remember first time? Or the last time? While the diplomat was home I dragged him to the Mountain View Cemetery - because that's what everyone wants to do in their brief reprieve from their middle east exile, right? The weather was perfect, and armed with a smart phone you can get an amazing lesson in bay area history. People are crazy, and fascinating - dead ones included. We wandered, finding as many histories, and hilarious episodes as possible.

Oakland is out there somewhere. 

I'll admit that I originally liked this headstone merely for the flourishes around the harp - but check this guy out! He conducted Lillian Russel in NYC, served as the musical director of 4 Broadway shows,and had a fantastic music career in SF.

One great story (not confirmed) is about how he got out of SF after the 1906 earthquake and fire:

"After San Francisco was destroyed by fire, Steindorff and one of his colleagues, actor/director Ferris Hartman fled the city, but needed to concoct a scheme to get into Oakland which was being guarded by the military to limit the refugees. The two men secured a hearse complete with a coffin and drove safely into Oakland."

This amazing cast is for a former ship captain. An article I found in the Pacific Marine Review called him a "retired commodore of the Pacific mail fleet" and said that he "was known from one end of the Pacific to the other as Ninety-fathom Dan". Quite the nickname, no? The article noted that the source of the nickname is disputed, but likely came from the depth he wanted under the China when he would anchor in the Manilla harbor.

 Here is a great vintage postcard of the boat.

 I think I take a photograph of Merritt's lock every time I come here.

As opposed to all the fake grand daughters?

I know, it's from the Daughters of the American Revolution,but I did laugh out loud when I saw it from 20 feet away. With some of the crazy stuff people put on grave markers you never know.

Interesting motto - Dread God

Oh wait, of course, this is the crest of a Highland Scottish Clan - Clan Munro. Heritage includes the "Black Baron" and quite a few castles.

Not only do his relatives have some lovely castles, but the man fought in the Boer War. The assumption was made (because it makes a great story) that he was in Ladysmith during the the Second Boer War and the Siege of Ladysmith - which lasted 118 days. Perhaps Alexander ran into the young Sir Winston Churchill who was a war correspondent for The Morning Post who was present for the relief of the siege. Oh, yeah
Gandhi was apparently around as well. Who knows who Alex may have run into.

Grand Exalted Ruler - yeap, that's right. 

This resulted in an extensive discussion about the Elks.

Kudos for to the Elks for setting up a classy Art Deco send off for the PGER.

 In case anyone might forget what Bixler looked like.

Okay, this one is a doozy!  This is the self-designed monument of Henry D. Cogswell

He was "a dentist and a crusader in the temperance movement".

Edited down: 

Cogswell believed that if people had access to cool drinking water they wouldn't consume alcoholic beverages. It was his dream to construct one temperance fountain for every 100 saloons across the United States and many were built. These drinking fountains were elaborate structures built of granite that Cogswell designed himself. Cogswell's fountains can be found in Washington, D.C., Tompkins Square Park NYC, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Rockville, CT.  

These grandiose statues were not well received by the communities where they were placed.  Washington, DC's Temperance Fountain has been called "the city's ugliest statue"  and spurred city councils across the country to set up fine arts commissions to screen such gifts.

Although the D.C. statue survived mostly unscathed, the San Francisco one was torn down by "a lynch party of self-professed art lovers".

Yes, you read that right - a lynch mob of art lovers!!! I'm totally beside myself at how hilarious a vision this is. Also, naturally, I sought out this Temperance Fountain when I was in DC - stay tuned for photos.

Finally, one of my favorites at Mountain View (thank you Crocker's for having good taste). That towering behemoth in the background would be Cogswell's memorial.

We finished the day with ice cream, because yes, cemeteries are still a little depressing.

R met us at Fenton's. He joined me last year on the guided cemetery tour, so he understood the diplomat's exhaustion. I am fairly certain that cemetery tour guide just bumped museum docent for the top spot on the "volunteer jobs I want when I am retired" list.