The Old is New

Right next to the Indianapolis Museum of Art is Crown Hill Cemetery, another Indianapolis landmark I knew little about until our neighbors told us they were going to picnic on the summit there. I wasn't sure how good for kids this would be and it probably won't be a regular event for us but it's free and we enjoyed walking around and looking at the unique graves.

We started with the James Whitcomb Riley tomb, on what our neighbor made us think was a really high hill. Ah, Hoosiers. A couple steep turns and we were there. The view of the city was indeed impressive and we learned something about Riley, who I didn't even realize was who the Riley Children's Hospital was named after.

We also checked out where President Harrison is buried with his wife and presumably a couple of his kids. There's an interesting Irsay tomb with a big Colts logo on the tombstone. There are many mini-mausoleums and some larger ones and what looked like a museum that was closed. Jack was particularly intrigued by a tombstone for a couple who is still very much alive.

The boys enjoyed running around, though we had to keep them from turning the tombstones into toys. We did our best to explain the need for respect and it certainly brought some "why?" questions I didn't quite know how to answer. We opted not to have our snacks there but went to "explore" at the IMA instead.

While it won't be something we do every week or month, it is apparently the 5th largest cemetery in the country and it's certainly worth a visit.

http://www.crownhillhf.org/