I played in a cemetery when I was a kid. My friends and I were respectful of the graves while we played house claiming different plots as our “homes.” Loved it. So when I had the opportunity to go on a tour of Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, OH, I jumped at it.
This cemetery has as much beauty as history. Among many other famous folks buried there are Erma Bombeck, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the Wright brothers. That alone makes this a really interesting place. It also has around 3,000 trees and 165 specimens of woody plants. Oh, and it is considered one of the most haunted places in Dayton.
The theme of the tour was History, Mystery, Murder, and Mayhem. We heard about all sorts of people from inventors to murderers to robbers. The coolest thing was learning about people I hadn’t heard of before.
Who else is buried at Woodland Cemetery?
Rev. Lorennzo Lorraine Lanstroth, the father of modern beekeeping, is buried here. He lived in the 1800s and more than a century later, his beekeeping methods are still in use.