The most visible legacy left by Roslyn’s early immigrants can be found in Roslyn’s Historic Cemeteries.  These sacred grounds were revered by early families as a place of honor. 

The cemetery complex is unique as it consists of 27 separate ethnic and lodge cemetery’s each varying in age, character and tradition. 

We are told there are over 4,000 people interred here, and 4,000 stories to be told.  Stories of their lives that can be found in the variations in artwork on their headstones, language, symbolism, shape, plot curbing and plot organization reflect the customs of each cemetery’s occupants. 

Monuments are adorned with photos of the deceased, religious symbols, crests and lodge mottos. 

A stone in the IOOF features the Scottish flag of St. Andrews; vaulted slabs mark the graves of Czech Freethinkers; and a row of manmade cement crosses mark and identify children interred in the Croatian Cemetery. 

In addition, the tradition of making the grave resemble a bed, by using both the head and foot stones, is common.  This is especially prevalent in the Old City Cemetery where wood and wrought iron fencing, banned in the most US cemeteries for disrupting the landscape, is abundant.  

According to ethnic customs some individual plots were raised above the earth with stone or concrete borders in an effort to separate consecrated ground from the more profane surroundings. 

Curbing and fences also served to protect graves. 

On Sundays and special occasions families would come to the cemeteries and have a picnic at their loved one’s place of burial.  It was a good place to go when parks were less common; and at the same time, to contemplate. Back then it was a common practice as their manner of honoring loved ones with respectful etiquette. 

The families and lodges knew all too well, that death was never far away in the cold harsh environment in which they lived and worked.   They revered their cemeteries and took great pride in caring for them.

They gave us our lives today; by doing what they did with their lives back then; and in doing so created the respect a cemetery should have.