Our Fall Vacation To South Dakota: Day 3, Part I, Mt. Moriah Cemetery

 This is a continuation of a travel series to South Dakota.  To start at the beginning, go HERE.  The rest of the posts in chronological order are  HERE, HERE, and HERE!

Before leaving Deadwood, South Dakota for a day of hiking to seek out waterfalls in Spearfish, we stopped at Mt. Moriah Cemetery.  Old cemetery's are great places to learn more history of the area.  But we found out that Mt. Moriah was not just a great place for history lovers, but nature lovers as well.  It also offered scenic views of the town of Deadwood as it sits high on top of a hill overlooking the town below.

The name of the cemetery and its street names have a religious affiliation with the Christian Bible and the Jewish Torah.  The real Mount Moriah is located within Jerusalem.  The symbols on the cemetery gateway represent The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Freemasonry, and the Star of David.

With the exception of a few of its wealthier or most notable citizens, most of the tombstones in this cemetery are simple or non-existent.  There are three "Potter Fields" or final resting places of Deadwoods "early-day indigents, prostitutes included".  This tombstone caught my attention because of the brevity of the life and it's faded engraving.

Even if you are not a history lover and/or find cemeteries creepy,  you must take the time to stop and visit this cemetery for the view alone.  Because we were there early in the morning, we caught the sun lighting up the city of Deadwood below.

The land for the cemetery was purchased in 1878 and is located on a mountainous plateau overlooking Deadwood Gulch.

What a beautiful spot for a final resting place, eh?  Too bad the cemetery is now a "closed cemetery". It closed in 1949, but there are some plots being held for various families and individuals for future use.

My husband and I enjoyed seeing this view after we had spent a full day in Deadwood.  It was fun to locate and see all the places we had been, like the Franklin Hotel seen below.

It was so sad to read this sign and I tried to imagine how difficult life was back then for the early settlers.  I wondered, "Did they really value and treasure life, because it could be so brief" or "Were their hearts hardened because they had seen and experienced so much death?"  I just don't know.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about visiting this cemetery was seeing all the wildlife.  This cemetery was filled with deer!  You could get fairly close to them too before they ran away.  If you have a chance to visit this cemetery I strongly suggest going early in the morning so you can see all the deer.  We were there around 8:00 am.

There are 3,400 people buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery.  The grave sites of many of Deadwood's most famous residents are located here, the most famous of them all "Wild Bill Hickok"!

Other famous people buried in this cemetery include "Calamity Jane", "Potato Creek Johnny", and Seth Bullock.

The rocks left on the grave act as a remembrance to this deceased.  When rocks are not available, coins, and bits of glass are sometimes used. 

Because my husband and I are Christians, we love Jewish history and we really enjoyed learning all about the Jewish immigrants to Deadwood and how they contributed to make Deadwood a prosperous and thriving city.

We also loved seeing all the biblical street names in this cemetery.

There is a small charge of $2.00 to visit this cemetery.  It is open from May 15 to October 15 every day from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

And that concludes my final post of the city of Deadwood, South Dakota.  Next week I'll share my first post in a new area:  Spearfish!  Believe it or not, there are waterfalls in South Dakota!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Handmade Christian Sympathy Card

 Back in November you may remember a post where I mentioned my husband and I had to drive four hours to Milwaukee to attend a funeral.  My husband's best friend since high school father had passed away.   My friend and his family are believers so I made this inspirational sympathy card for them.

I want the card to really focus on being inspirational.  Even though all deaths are tragic because we will miss our loved ones here on earth, we also know as believers "that to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ".  So to reflect that happy thought I chose bright happy colors and papers.  I also chose to use a cross image with a sun's rays behind it to represent the new life that awaits believers in heaven.

I created the sun rays using a Tim Holtz stencil and yellow ink.  The cross image came from a old Stampin' Up! set called "Symbols of Salvation".  I stamped the cross in blue ink, cut it out, then mounted it up on dimensionals over the sun rays.  I put a crystal in the center of the cross.

I stamped a sentiment on a MFT banner die cut.  The scrolls were also cut with an MFT die.  The sentiment is popped up too so I could glue the green scrolls behind it.  A Prima flower with a gem glued inside finished the adornment of the card.

I used circle dies from Spellbinders to cut out the sun rays and an orange border.

Two different sheets of designer paper were used in the background of the card.  I added a strip of white card stock to separate them.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Grandma & Me: Winter Whites

I'm so thrilled to bring you a new "Grandma & Me" post, because looking back on these pictures makes me smile and remember the wonderful moments I shared with my beautiful granddaughter.

Alethea and I are sharing our winter white knits this month.  Winter white is perfect for the icy cold snowy days we have in Wisconsin and Illinois during the month of January.



I am wearing a new "Cozy Popcorn Yarn Cardigan"  from CJBanks that I got for Christmas.  I love this cardigan so much I bought it in white and blush.  I can't even begin to tell you how soft this yarn is!  It's all sold out on line in the white and pink colors, but the mint color is still available.  You could also check your local stores and see if they have more colors.

Alethea is wearing a white  plush hoodie vest with animal ears.  I've noticed how much cute little animal ears on top of hoods is really trending in children's clothing.

Alethea also has sparkly gold leggings on with a white long sleeve top with metallic gold hearts.



I didn't have any sparkly gold leggings or white tops with gold hearts on them, to match Alethea (geez, I wonder why? 😀) so I wore my brown skinny jeans and a white top (both old).

Alethea is 17 months old now and has become even more of a delight to hang out with.  I had the pleasure of having her over for Christmas for a full week.  She was so fun to have around for Christmas.  She loves Christmas!  We let her play "Santa" and deliver all the presents to the proper recipients.  She did such a good job!

She is starting to love me "almost" as much as I love her.  She pointed to me and said "Mamy" for the first time!  Oh, my heart just melted!  What music to one's ear to have your first grandchild call you by name.

She's at the age when you can really start playing with her.  We played with all the new toys she got for Christmas.  We built towers with blocks, talked on the play "telephone", and ran around the house with her corn popper:  her favorite Christmas toy!

She is a bundle of energy!  It's harder than ever to take photos with her, but somehow we managed to get a lot of beautiful photographs to be treasured forever.

Alethea is saying so many different words now.  She also "talks" to you, like she is having a conversation, but of course I can't understand a word she says.  I can't wait till she is putting full sentences together.  I can only imagine the hilarious things that will come out of her mouth!

She is always fascinated with my jewelry; she will closely examining any necklace or bracelet I'm wearing.  She quickly figured out on her own how my bracelet opened and closed.  She is so smart!

Oh, what a little pumpkin she is!  Such a vivacious personality she has.  She makes me smile and laugh so much! I am truly blessed.

Finally, for those less interested in the ravings of a proud grandma and more interested in what I'm wearing, here are some detail shots of my outfit.  I wanted to show the back of this cardigan so you can see it how long it is.  It will be nice to wear with leggings as it covers the back side!

For shoes I wore my brown suede booties (old).  I tend to wear these booties more than any other pair in my closet.  They are just so comfy and go with almost everything.

For jewelry, I chose gold pieces to match Alethea's gold pants and gold hearts.  The necklace is from a fall Stitch Fix box.  The bracelet has a tortoise shell top.

I am so looking forward to seeing this precious bundle again!  In February, I will go and spend a week at her home in Illinois.  Hopefully she'll think it's really cool that grandma is at her house for an extended period of time.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!