Holy Ghost Cemetery - Fremont CA

Wandering through an old cemetery can be an interesting venture. Regardless of where you are, there's usually a tremendous amount of history behind those who are buried there. I find myself wondering about the lives of the people who's names I'm seeing. What kind of families did they have? What kind of conditions did they live in? What was the cause of death? Sure, the last one falls into the "morbid curiosity" category, but you know you're going to wonder. I'm especially saddened when I see the grave of a child, or on the odd occasion, a site that shows mother and child, where you're pretty sure neither of them made it through childbirth.

Holy Ghost Cemetery is one of Fremont's oldest, having opened in May 1889 by the Holy Spirit Catholic Church (also in Fremont). In all the years I've lived in this city, and even working across the street from this site for many years, I never took the time to go wandering through the grounds. A few weeks ago, I decided to go take a look. I have to say, I was really bothered by what I saw. Let me preface this by saying that the photos below reflect my visit today, not the one a few weeks ago. The grounds looked considerably better today, comparatively.

Upon my arrival, I found:

The grounds were covered in over-growth, sometimes to the point of not even being able to get to the graves.

There's a walkway in there somewhere.

That's a head stone back there.

Lots of brush in the way here.

Large clippings had been cut from the trees in the area and left to rot in a pile. Isn't that a fire hazard? I know... who would start a fire in a cemetery?

Last time I was here, they were left in the aisles by the trees.

Trash was piled up around the trash can not far from several headstones. The stones in this photo are all grave markers for children. Some of the markers were quite beautiful, and others very simple and engraved by hand while the cement was still wet.

Many of the monuments were broken (either from age or vandalism).

You can see the large cross in the back,
on its side.

Tree roots. Can't be helped...

I was bothered because I was always taught to show respect for the dead, and to me, the condition of this site was disrespectful. Now, I'm a reasonable person, and I know there's a few things are going on:

• this site is very old
• the owners may not have/be willing to spend the money for constant upkeep
• not many people go and visit
• you can't control a lot of the damage by vandals, but there should be some effort to repair
• you especially can't control damage when it's caused by weather or tree roots growing up though the grave site - again, some effort could be put into repair

It was clear that some maintenance had been done since my last visit, but there were still piles in various places. I have to wonder if those who visit loved ones in this cemetery are bothered by the state of the grounds. There's no reason this cemetery should look like this when there are other historic cemeteries in much better condition.

Beyond the physical appearance of the cemetery grounds, the site has many beautiful head stones. I found that there were a couple of folks that had been buried there as late as November 2010. They aren't accepting any new burials, in case you were wondering.

One of the facts I found while googling the site is this: Buried at the center of this cemetery are the first pastors of the church, Father Domingos Governo, and the Right Reverend Monsignor Alfredo M. de Souza. There are a couple of other names that will be familiar to Fremont residents: Stevenson and Dusterberry. If you're interested in searching names of those who are interred here, this website will have a full list and even some photos. There aren't a lot of back stories, but some of them have a few details I found rather interesting.

I'm sure this cemetery will never become a "place of beauty", and it's very likely that the loved ones of those buried here are either out of range to see it anywhere but online or passed away themselves. Even so, it would really be nice to see the site cleaned up. I know that if this were someone's yard, there'd be a fuss about it and someone in authority would be making sure something got done. After all, it's a matter of pride and respect, really. Isn't it?