Sometimes, I will stop and walk around a cemetery. If you visit a cemetery, what is your reason behind it?

I go to visit all my relatives. It is primarily a Nix cemetary. I feel sad when I see the infant tombstones....well, anybody's really. Most of them didn't live very long back then. Our family's American history is documented there on the headstones. We go back to the 1600's.

Nice quiet place to take a walk and talk to the rocks of the dead family members :)

We do have a beautiful historical cemetary about 1 mile away.. It is just full of trees and deer and birds, it also has a hugh pond. Chester Arthur is buried there. We used to go thee to pick chestnuts when young, spend all day there. It dates back to the 1700's, so peaceful.

I go to visit my grandmother. It is very creepy, the stones are so close together and the grass is bumpy.

Two reasons: there is a supposedly haunted cemetery close to where I live and I like to read the headstones from the 19th century and older cemeteries here.

I usually like to walk around until I find the oldest tombstone.

We walk around cemeteries often. Sometimes, to visit family. Often we'll go just to relax. It's interesting to walk around and look at the old stones...

I like graveyards, they're interesting, calm and soothing and nobody bothers you. I like them at night too, it's really not scary like a lot of people seem to think. No particular reason other than that I like it.

To visit relatives and friends gravesites!

The last cemetery I visited was in Boston...heck, they're right THERE in the middle of the city. I checked it out purely for historical value.

An interest in the history of the people who lived in the area.

To admire the architecture.

I like to talk walks in the local cemetary. I do it because it makes me feel at ease. Don't ask me why! :P I guess I'm the stranger crayon in the box. ^__^

It makes me feel at peace, and it's especially nice to take a walk in a cemetary in the fall, when the colours are especially bright! :)

to talk to my wife

I have many reasons. I do visit dead friends etc. But I often go because it is peaceful. Some of the older cemeteries have beautiful, haunting mausoleums and grave stones that I love to look at.

Cemeteries are a given when you're into genealogy and family history! So I'll visit them to pay my respects to my ancestors. I'll visit one when I'm ancestor "hunting" (and hoping). Used to be that I'd take photographs of tombstones then add those to the family files. Now when I visit (especially if I've traveled a long way just to GO to that cemetery), I take LOTS of photographs, including "strangers". So many volunteers generously upload their tombstone inscriptions .. and photos if they've got them .. to online free respositories like http://www.findagrave.com So? Decided I'd follow their good example. I've got a bunch of photos on my laptop all ready for me to upload there.
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Also been known to visit cemeteries "just because" it's part of the history of a place .. esp the older ones.
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Last year, I was in western NY, USA taking cemetery photos, visiting local churches to see records, going to local genealogical and historical societies, etc. I went to one small town I'd never been to before "just" to find a Revolutionary War ancestor's grave. There's something magical and wonderful to just "stand there" and acknowledge (claim?) the bond .. acknowledge "the life" .. pay respects. (These visits can also result in "action" to save a deteriorating tombstone .. but have already written too much as it is, so I'll stop now!) :)

Here to visit my family graves.

In other countries I like to look at the war graves and Historical Memorials

I like to look at the really old headstones. It's always so peaceful there.

visiting family
but i've never been uncomforable in them

Usually it's to visit family headstones (grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc). Sometimes if I can go, there are cemetery masses in the summer. I was also named after a family member who died over 30 years ago, and when I see her grave, sometimes it's eerie lol because I'm looking down at the stone with my first and last name on it.

To find potential members of my family...
To take pictures of as many headstones as I can, especially family...
To enjoy the relative peace and quiet (unless it's mowing day)

It's interesting to view and attempt to find the oldest headstones. The inscription on some of them is very interesting also.

It's peaceful...There something about walking in a cemetery alone, especially in autumn (or just a pleasant day). I wonder about the people buried in it as I admire the tombstones.

To read the names and see if they are familiar/related. To see when they died and give thanks that we have modern medicine. To mourn for dead children long forgotten. To pay my respects to my elders, related or not. To "honor thy mother and father" even if they are only related as all mankind is related. To thank those who sacrificed their lives for mine and for my freedoms.

It's kind of like a history/art museum. There is so much to see and learn. Sometimes I do rubbings or take photographs.

The headstones are beautiful or its somewhere family is burried

tell dead family members how i miss them so much

I love walking through old cemeteries and seeing the various names and how they are related. I will also go to where my mom's ashes are buried to pay my respects.

Several reasons:

1. I'm a 'headstone hunter' or genealogist specializing in old, forgotten graveyards.
2. Admire the spectacular stonework in very old cemeteries.
3. Deciphering old, worn gravestones.
4. Enjoy the spectacular views and peaceful environment.

i too love cemeteries. there was an historical church and cemetary near my house with headstones as far back as the 1600s . also the resting place of my parents is very nice, among the famous inhabitats include babe ruth, billy martin, james cagney and many more. next door is kensico cemetary where you can find jimmy dorsey with a trombone on the cover, lou gherig is there across the path in the jewish section is paddy chadefski a famous screen writer tombstones of everything tou could imagine looking like tree stumps,a bear, somekind of archetechnical formula. a chinese section that you would want to video tape the tombstones. all kinds of sections such as salvation army, screen actors section along with screen writers and a lot of other famous people. the whole idea of death and cemeteris blows me away. you can sit in your car a little bit up the lane and see what happens after the mourners leave.it a very interesting thing withe the grave diggers saying prayers as they throw a few shovelfulls of dirt on the coffin before the back hoe pushes it's pile of dirt into the grave. i'm far from ghoulish i just find it interesting

I have a cemetery about a mile from my home that I often drive through in the morning, on my way home from taking my daughters to school and before I head for work. The cemetery is full of big, beautiful monuments from the 1800's. Included are several larger-than-life statues of lovely Victorian women, silently and proudly testifying of the greatness of the fallen loved ones they represent. Every gravestone tells a story. A life that once walked the Earth as we do now, and certainly a life that all too soon passed into eternity.

Either to visit somebody, or just because they're so quiet and peaceful and very beautiful.

Peace ...

To talk to someone that would proably listen to me.

I visit my In-laws grave site along with my brothers graves. It gets harder each time I do it.

I have one right on my backyard... I have no choice.

to visit my loved ones,I sometimes go looking for a tombstone that doesn't have a flower and i like to put something there. and its also very peaceful there.

I take my kids to a really old cemetery we look at the grave stones and talk about them and maybe take some rubbings of the really old ones, i think its good as children are a little baffled with the whole process of life and death.. They know its not a place to be scared of. They know where we are laid to rest, they ask lost of questions in which I'm happy to answer :)

I go to relax and to look at the old ones and I enjoy finding ones which have the way the person died on them.
I also like to take pictures. Graveyards are soothing.

The only time I go to the cemetary is to visit my dad's grave.

I love walking around our cemetery, i go there often to visit my mother and fathers grave. Its such a peaceful place, i could spend all day there.

I go to the cemetery toput flowers on my grandparents or my friends graves.:)

when iwas in my early teens i used to like to wander around the cemetary as it was so peaceful and i found i was able to get my thoughts together

I do the same thing. I enjoy local history and I try to piece together the stories told by the tombstones. One grave I remember was for a sailor from Norway. His hometown chipped in to buy his marker. Another was for an 8 year girl who 'died from a fall at school'. Others stated 'lost at sea'. I find it fascinating.

I visit cemeteries to remember family and friends who've died.

I like to walk through a cemetery because you get that feeling that all of the problems you are experiencing, all of the stress and worry, really don't mean all that much.

One day it will end. Live every day like it was your last. Learn and much as you can.

Cemeteries are so peaceful.

We live across the road from a large cemetery, and we like to go over there for long walks, and to visit our relatives. My wife and I bought a plot right across from our home. When we sit in our living room we can see lots of deer walking around. We saw five Wild Boar one time, they were behind a fence in the cemetery, got through a hole and walked right down our driveway and disappeared behind our home. My wife has pictures of them. They are Ugly creatures!!
One time we seen a small black bear in the cemetery walking around, right next to the fence, I think he was lost!! The State Police were trying to locate him because not far away is a residental area and they were afraid someone would get hurt. They never did capture the bear. There also is a pond where the Canadian geese come for the summer and raise their family. Most summers there is only one male and one female (really lol) and we can see them from our living room, my wife takes our great grandchildren over to the pond and loves to take pictures of the newly hatched goslings swimming around following their mother. (really cute sight to see). Also, lots of small animals (squirrels, rabbits, etc).
Well, I guess that's enough info for now, I could write a book about the animals we see, and all the things we watch them do. Thank You for the Question Sheriff Raff..Have a Great Weekend!!
Good Luck..

I too like to walk around and look at the different tombstones. Really old tombstones are usually very ornate and symbolic, while others used sayings that we don't normally see today. As an example, my father is buried in a very old cemetary, in the oldest section there is a 16 year old boy buried that died in the 1800's, under his name and dates, there is a quote that says, "He Was A Good Boy".

I actual work at a cemetery so is usually to work, but many times I go just to walk and visit family members, find peace there. My hubby who is the manager says he thinks he has one of the greatest jobs taking care of people's loved ones.
we often stop in town we travel though a look at other cemetery just to see the history.

I like old cemeteries too, for me it's the history. Went to one in a small town and noticed how many of the streets are named after the town's founders etc. You get a real sense of the town and its history!