Aspin Hill Memorial Park is one of the oldest pet cemeteries in the nation. As it happens, it’s also close to where I now live in Silver Spring, MD.
Mickey’s owners are interred in front of their beloved terrier’s mausoleum.
I spent a gorgeous day there last week, walking the rows and taking photos. Lots and lots of photos.
All kinds of pets are buried here, though it’s often hard to tell from the stone. This one’s easy, though.
There are some famous critters here, including a few pets belonging to J. Edgar Hoover, and “Jiggs,” the terrier who played Petey in Our Gang. Napoleon the Weather Prophet was a white cat who predicted rain by putting his head down between his front paws. He was never wrong.
Napoleon wasn’t taken seriously until he predicted the end of a drought.
The Jiggs up.
Founded in the early 1920s, over 50,000 pets are interred here, a few with their people. Parts of the cemetery are quite overgrown, and would have been impassable later in the year.
Yes, there are stones under the log.
I would agitate for cleanup, but I’ll be honest, I love an unkempt cemetery. The overgrown parts are less treacherous than some of the front areas where graves have collapsed and not been filled in. Watch the ankles.
The stones move through time west to east. Name trends come and go. Numerous Ladies and Butches give way to Popeyes and Wimpies, and collies named Lassie and Laddie.
There must be a well around here somewhere.
Lots of Happies and Princes, but only one Prince Happy.
We Rate Dogs would approve
Amongst the hundreds of prosaic Spots and Busters, some names stand out.
Bonnie got a raw deal
Some stones tell stories.
And some are sweetly sentimental.
I got a little misty here
There are dozens of small statues, and some more impressive ones.
And speaking of impressive…
You think you love your cat?
I was enamored of the photo stones, of which there are many. Frosty is my favorite.
I’ll leave you with the last of my favorites, though the number had to be winnowed considerably. You can see the entire, unprocessed photoset on flickr.
