Artesia Cemetery District

After living around the corner from this cemetery for 27 years (almost all of my life, in other words) and being determined to try something new every day this year, I finally stopped by on Saturday.
Frankly, it’s been so easy to forget this cemetery is there as it’s rather well concealed, but for the iron gates that allow passers-​by to see several of the upright gravemarkers from 183^rd.
Indeed there are many older graves here than I thought. More than a handful, tragically, are for children and babies. It was fascinating to walk about the grounds, and see names like Clark and Wardlow, more famously known as streets these days.
The older graves are closer to the front while those near the rear are fresher, with tombstones inlaid into the ground. Some of the older ones, particularly those from the 1930s, were poured concrete with the letters and numbers stamped in or scrawled with a toothpick or some other implement.
The road into the cemetery is one-​way, and you park on the left. Though there were signs for a restroom, the door was locked to get in.
But for a few of the older gravemarkers along the western wall needing to be unearthed, the rest of the grounds seem reasonably well-​maintained and windchimes hang in various places.