Designed as a Victorian Park Cemetery, Elmwood Cemetery was opened in 1853 as the second of Norfolk’s municipal cemeteries. The idea was design a place people could go and spend the afternoon while remembering friends and relatives who had gone on before. According to the Norfolk Society for Cemetery Conservation:
Elmwood Cemetery is a 50-acre municipal cemetery established in 1853. It is just across the street from Norfolk's first municipal cemetery, Cedar Grove and just beside Norfolk's first African American cemetery, West Point. A mid-nineteenth century grid design cemetery, Elmwood is filled with monuments and mausoleums that embody the pathos and symbolism of the Victorian era's romantic idea of death as temporary sleep. … An oasis in the middle of the modern city of Norfolk, this outdoor museum contains a wealth of Victorian funerary art. Elmwood Cemetery thrives today as a great source of genealogical information and as a biographical representation of the history of Norfolk, of its artists and craftsmen, soldiers, sailors, and ordinary citizens, from the wealthiest of merchants to the poorest of commoners buried in "strangers and paupers" lots. It is a visual representation of the evolution of American funerary art reflecting changing believes and tastes of successive generations.
Elmwood has recently been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
This wherigo will take you around the cemetery pointing out some examples of Victorian funeral customs and artistry. You will visit eight places in the cemetery. At each place, you will have to answer two questions to determine the location of the next place. After the final stop, you will get the coordinates for the cache which is an ammo can.
You may download the cache here: http://www.wherigo.com/cartridge/details.aspx?CGUID=20aa635f-2731-4923-b045-66427fd9e975
If you have never before done a wherigo, there is a very detailed explanation of how to run a cartridge on the cache page for The Hermitage Gardens: A Walking Tour (GC4XD7M) http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4XD7M_the-hermitage-gardens-a-walking-tour
This cache is placed with the permission and cooperation of the Norfolk Society for Cemetery Conservation. Please cache only between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.
An early morning co-FTF goes to geospillz and Lacey1961!!.