Each decade it seems that we become more wasteful as a society. For some reason, many see the world around us, as well as the things in it, as disposable. We leave behind the strangest things, and sometimes I stumble upon something that really puts this thought into perspective a bit more than the regular abandoned home, hospital or school. Wow…that’s sad that those can be thought of as regular occurrences.

Anyway, you’d think that mausoleums would be cared for by someone over the course of centuries; it’s not something that we think of when we think of abandoned places. So what left this mausoleum in its current state?

We can go back to the days of grave robbing, and while not still entirely relevant in today’s world, I’m sure there are still some cases of it happening. Did it happen here? I doubt it, but it’s still an interesting bit of history.

Mausoleums were created initially to deter grave robbers, with the belief that it would be far more difficult for one to break through iron or steel doors than it would be to simply dig up a grave plot. The mausoleum was not only built to be more protected from robbers, but to also show a family’s wealth. Into the mid and late 19^th century in North America, more and more families began to buy mausoleums. One flaw in the design of many mausoleums was the placement of stained glass windows, allowing robbers to simply break through the window, hop in and retrieve whatever they wanted, and simply unlock and walk out the doors. They were able to unlock the doors by finding a key inside the mausoleum, left for family members in case they were trapped inside while standing guard.

Now I’m pretty sure that this is not the case of a grave robbing, though it’s difficult to say what may have happened here over the years of deterioration. The entrance has been sealed by bricks, but the elements still continue to wash through the cracked roof of this decaying mausoleum as the years pass.

So what do you really call a mausoleum like this? Is it abandoned? I suppose since the family has most likely not touched it in who knows how many years, it would count as an abandoned mausoleum…yeah?

Though seemingly abandoned – and while it may have been for many years – there are ongoing efforts to preserve this cemetery. The Mt. Wood Cemetery is the oldest extant cemetery located within city limits in Wheeling, West Virginia. The cemetery dates back to 1848, and was designed during the rural romantic movement. During this time, cemeteries were placed in beautiful areas, normally overlooking (or at least with a view of) a city. Topography similar to that of a garden and park gave families a scenic place to walk, or enjoy a picnic with their loved ones who had passed. It was common to visit cemeteries during these years, just the way that we visit our parks today.

Preservation efforts of this cemetery began in the summer of 2012, with help from several organizations and volunteers. Over years of abandonment, gravestones had been vandalized and knocked over. In 2013 Mt. Wood became Wheeling’s first cemetery to be named to the National Register of Historic Places. Over 300 people showed up in 2013 for the Friends of Wheeling cemetery tour. This was followed by a 3-day gravestone conservation workshop with a gravestone conservator. Workdays then began at the cemetery and brought about a dozen people a day. In 2015, the cemetery received a grant to develop historic structure reports on two of the cemeteries endangered mausoleums. Though much work still needs to be done, preservation efforts in Wheeling still stay strong with the community, and anyone else willing to lend a hand in the work as a volunteer.

So this leaves me with two questions – what’s the strangest thing that you have ever come across in your travels, and why don’t we regularly visit cemeteries like we used to, just to walk around and enjoy the beauty? I mean, I do…but in general as a society? There are many beautiful cemeteries all over the United States.