Appeasing the Ghosts: Resurrecting Moriah

Technorati Tags: Mount Moriah,ruin,cemetery,abandoned,forgotten,volunteers,revival,statue,tombs,tombstones,crypt,mausoleum

Earlier this month I had my first visit to the massive (approximately 380 acres) Mount Moriah Cemetery located in Philadelphia and Yeadon, PA.  I attending a volunteer clean up day to photographically document the efforts of the volunteers, the condition of the cemetery and some of the magnificent, though horribly neglected, monuments and memorials.

A couple weeks later was the second volunteer day that I attended, and I brought my camera with once again.  I pretty much knew during my first day there that I was going to be hooked.  The second visit completely confirmed it. 

After decades of neglect, there are some great people dedicated to resurrecting Mount Moriah and bringing it back to its glory. In particular, the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery are taking the lead. I’ve been made to feel very welcomed by members of this organization (special thanks to Haunted Mt. Moriah and Paulette for that warm welcome).

Mount Moriah’s sordid history of neglect has recently been brought to public attention, with even the city of Philadelphia going to court to determine ownership of the cemetery. It seems to be quite a unique and complex situation that surrounds this huge, historic cemetery.  I won’t go into much detail as this information is readily available on  the  Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery’s website and elsewhere on the web.

Here are two galleries with photos of the volunteers : Oct 8, 2011 and Oct. 22, 2011. You can see more images I photographed here -  http://gjfoto.smugmug.com/Cemeteries/Mt-Moriah-Cemetery 

I also have several special fine art prints available of my favorite Mt. Moriah scenes. Purchases of these prints will benefit the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery.  Fine art prints are available on metallic paper or metal prints with float mountings.  These fine art prints are available here - http://gjfoto.smugmug.com/PrintsforPurchase/Mt-Moriah-Cemetery

I’m just starting to do a little with the high-def video feature on my Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, so I also have a few short videos  up on my YouTube page. I’m not a videographer (yet!) so don’t judge my first videos too harshly!

The first photos below are of the incredible, though now decrepit, Gate House designed by Stephen Decatur Button.

Photos by Colleen D. Gjefle / © 2011 / GJFOTO.com

 

Would you grab a DVD when running out of a burning building?

My best photographer’s general advise to people – find those really special, favorite digital photos and print them out!

Don’t get me wrong – I love technology and digital images, music and movies. BUT….
When the flood waters were hitting the northeast US a few weeks ago, people grabbed Grandma, the dog and the photo album. If the house is on fire, who the hell is going to rummage through the drawer where they store the DVDs with all their photos?  But it’s possible to grab the family album. You might bitch about that big, bulky old-fashioned album whenever you’re doing the dusting, but – God forbid – comes a fire, it’s probably going to be a no-brainer to grab it.

I was recently watching a documentary on life after the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan a few months ago. There was a scene of tables and tables full of photos that were found in the debris. People found photos of strangers, brought them to this make-shift memory lane in the chance someone would claim the fragile pieces of paper. These same people then looked through the photos themselves, hoping to find some of their precious memories. When they finally did find a photograph, they inevitably and understandably cried.

There weren’t piles of CDs or DVDs on those tables. Who would have even picked one up out of the muck and debris? Even if they did, what’s the chance that disc wasn’t damaged beyond retrieval?

I can list several other really good reasons for printing out some of those digital photos: gramophone, Victrola, super-8, Betamax, laser disc, 8-track, floppy disc, etc. Let’s remember that the VHS tape was king of the hill for roughly 2 decades. But then came DVDs and it didn’t take long for VHS to start disappearing – and fast.

CD’s and DVD’s have had the upper hand for the last several years, but Blue Ray has been gaining strength and now there’s the encroaching wave of 3D for the home theater. So what’s next down the road and how long until the DVD with all of those wedding photos on will be obsolete and unreadable?

Sure, you can keep everything on a hard drive, but you’ll eventually have to replace that old computer and hard drives do fail.

So that’s the lecture for today. Memories fade, as do the pictures. But better a faded photo than nothing.

Revisiting an Old Ruin: Van Slyke Castle

This evening I felt like taking a second look at an old ruin I had visited several years ago. It's called Van Slyke Castle and it's located on top of a mountain in Ramapo Mountain State Forest in northern New Jersey. From what I've read, Van Slyke was a mansion built around the turn of the century, passed through a few different hands, but eventually abandoned after an ugly divorce. It was apparently torched by vandals during the 1950s and nature took over from there.

Apparently, this is what the mansion originally looked like.
Photos courtesty of http://www.users.nac.net/axtell/History.htm

It was tough to find, but there are better directions to be found online now, unlike when I first found my way there in 2005/6. You can find some good directions here - http://thefranklinlakesjournal.com/uncategorized/van-slyke-castle/ and here - http://www.localhikesbeta.com/Hikes/Ramapo-Mt-St-ForestCastle-Pt-Todd-Loop-732. I went in summer, when the greenery was in full force, so I think the time to visit this place would be in the winter, when you'll get a better chance to actually see what's there instead of fighting with nature.

If you think this looks cool and would like to visit Van Slyke Castle yourself, be prepared for lots of walking, including up and down mountains! Depending on what time of the year you go, you should also plan on close encounters with wood ticks and poison ivy (yuck!). But you also get some great views of the castle, the lake below and NYC in the distance.

These first photos are of the ruin itself, followed by other photos of this scenic New Jersey park.

All photos © Colleen D. Gjefle, gjfoto.com