Every now and then, I look at my profile on Find a Grave.com (FG) to see what my progress has been. When I checked it recently, I realized I had passed another milestone.

On November 2, 2012, I signed on with Find a Grave.com. I’ve been with them for over two years. Over that time, I’ve taken almost 10,000 pictures for FG. Wow.

Because not everybody knows what Find a Grave.com is or how it came to be, here’s the scoop.

Find a Grave was started as a free site in 1995 by Jim Tipton. According to the FG web site, Jim started it because he couldn’t find an existing site that supported his hobby of visiting the graves of famous people. He decided to create a platform for it. What started as an eccentric hobby became “a livelihood and a passion”.

At first, FG was supposed to be a database of photos and information about famous people, from movie stars to historical figures to famous athletes. What actually determines the “famous” label is up for debate. But FG has the final say on that when you submit a photo/bio of a person you consider famous.

Fast forward to 2013. FG has many more memorials to unfamous people than famous ones. In fact, it contains about 100 million memorials and 75 million photos. It’s become a valuable tool for people like me who use it for genealogical purposes. Millions of members take photos of graves and post them on FG every day.

In 2013, FG was sold to Ancestry.com for an undisclosed amount. It remains a free service, although some worry that this may change.

I’ve never created a memorial/bio for a famous person. But I did take the first photo of one famous Atlantan’s grave that FG published last year. It’s odd how it happened, too.

Last year, I took a lot of pictures at Atlanta’s Westview Cemetery for my friend, John Bayne. The result of his hard work was published a few weeks ago (shameless plug). About 30 of my photos ended up in the book and John gave me credit for all of them.

At the time, I used a spreadsheet of names, dates and grave locations to find what John needed. But one name on the list didn’t have a location and he hoped I would find it. He wasn’t even totally sure this famous person was buried there. Since Westview has over 100,000 graves, I was dubious that I could.

On a sunny October afternoon, I was hunting for the grave of Donald Lee Hollowell, a Georgia attorney famous for fighting for civil rights in the 1960s. I was having trouble finding it. Two fellows from the maintenance crew were working nearby and asked me if I needed help. One of them kindly radioed the office to get a better fix on the location while I looked around. That’s when I saw something.

It was the elusive grave of rapper James Christopher “Mac Daddy” Kelly that John had asked me to find. Kelly died of a drug overdose in May 2013.

Chris Kelly is best known for being half of the duo Kris Kross. A native of Atlanta, Chris and his friend Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith were discovered by music producer Jermaine Dupri at an Atlanta mall. The pair’s unique habit of wearing their clothes backwards definitely made them stand out. Their hit song “Jump” in 1992 was on the radio in constant rotation at the time. It was indeed a catchy tune.

Kriss Kross went on to make more albums that sold very well. But adulthood proved more challenging to Chris Kelly than his youthful fame. Although it’s reported that he pursued training to become a music engineer, he also struggled with substance abuse. His mother told the press that on the night before he died, he had taken “speedballs”, a potentially fatal cocktail of heroin and cocaine.

Only in his mid-30s when he died, Chris Kelly’s death stunned many, including his former Kriss Kross partner, Chris Smith. In his statement to the press, he said, “Chris Kelly was my best friend. He was like a brother. I love him and will miss him dearly.”

Hardly able to believe I’d stumbled across the one grave I thought I would never find, I turned to see the other crew member witnessing my surprise. He knew what I was asking without saying the words. “Yeah, that’s him,” he murmured.

I’ve never been a fan of rap music because of its tendency toward strong profanity, violence and terrible treatment of women. But as the mother of a son, I can empathize with Chris Kelly’s mother over the loss of her child.

I took my pictures, still stunned. Later, I posted them to FG and one became my first published photo of a famous grave.

Looking back over the last two years, I can say volunteering for FG did change my life in a dramatic way. Because when I started hunting for graves, I found a new sense of purpose I hadn’t had in a long time.

In fall 2012, my son started kindergarden so I had a little more time to myself. I’m blessed to be able to stay home and not work a full-time job as so many moms must. I know that washing pots and pans, and folding laundry isn’t fun for anybody. But I felt frustrated, lacking in purpose.

My already limited freelance writing career was going nowhere so I sought an outlet for my creative juices. Even if it meant not making a dime from it. Joining FG provided the spark and from that, Adventures in Cemetery Hopping was born. It’s been quite an adventure indeed.

While what I do doesn’t equal curing a disease or solving economic problems, it gives me a way to use my talents and skills while educating and (hopefully) inspiring others. I’ve made a few people happy by finding the final resting place of their loved ones. Maybe some of you have learned something new because of this blog.

I hope you’ll continue with me on the journey.

UPDATE: I haven’t visited this cemetery in years but I still get the occasional email from folks asking about it. As far as I know, it is still there and pets are still being buried there.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Oak Rest Pet Gardens, a modern pet cemetery in the Northeast suburbs of Atlanta. But on the way there, I was thinking of another pet cemetery I’d heard about. I stumbled upon a listing on Find a Grave for Atlanta Pet Cemetery. The few pictures I saw showed a rather rough around the edges cemetery with an old sign that referred to it as Pet Heaven Memorial Park.

It wasn’t until this week, having recruited my photographer friend Jennifer Graham to accompany me, that I got there. I’ve been in that part of Northwest Atlanta a few times, but not that deep inside the I-285 Perimeter.

Pet Heaven Memorial Park is located in a quirky area called Monroe Heights near Bolton Road and Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway (formerly Bankhead Highway). Amid industrial plants and older residences, it’s got long stretches of forest along the road. Not what you would expect so close to the city. I was thankful my directions advised drivers to turn onto a small driveway just past the Procter Creek bridge. I would have never seen it otherwise.

The first thing I noticed was the new sign.

I know nothing about Pet Heaven Memorial Park. There is no information about them on the Internet, although I did see it listed in the online Yellow Pages with a phone number. I don’t know who owns or operates it. But clearly people know about it because burials continue to take place here.

Pet Heaven has two distinct sections. The old section, off to the left as you enter, is a disorganized, shabby area. I found graves for pets dating back to the 40s there. The newer section, to the right, is neatly mowed and the dates are from the 80s to the present.

One of the markers was for a toy poodle named Fluffy. I think perhaps “Hardee’s Mignon” was her official AKC (American Kennel Club) name but I don’t know for sure.

A double grave for Peaches and Mittens Wynne (I think they must have been cats) had some inscriptions on the flat potions.

Further on, we began seeing graves from the 60s and earlier.

I got a little excited when we starting seeing dates from the 40s. One of them was sunk down in the ground, so I had to brush off dirt to see the dates at the bottom.

Then I saw a group of graves that had some numbers on them. I’m wondering if they were AKC registration numbers.

It’s hard to fathom that a dog that lived through the Great Depression is buried here.

As we went deeper into the cemetery, it was apparent that the older section was a mess. Some of the markers looked like they had been uprooted and tossed into a pile at some point. I don’t know if they even mark the actual graves anymore. It was sad to see.

Over to one side by some concrete blocks was a sad little grave nearly face down.

Looking toward Procter Creek, we saw more evidence of the chaos in the older section.

This one was a favorite of mine.

There were even a few for birds.

Some markers had the breed of the pet engraved on them.

As is the case in the photo above, many of the graves are being overtaken by grass and weeds.

Walking over to the new section, the difference between the two is obvious. The grass is cut, the graves have been edged with a weed whacker (it looks like). The graves are mostly in neat rows. Also, many of the markers look very similar.

Lucifer reminded me of the comic strip dog, Marmaduke. His grave is one of the few that has a photo of the pet on it.

Most of the markers were more like this, small and square. This one is for a pet rabbit named Fiver. It was the only one (in the new section) I saw that was cracked like this.

There did seem to be more cat graves in the newer section.

We noticed there were some little statues here and there. Some were of fawns, some were cats, and there was one statue. An alert reader told me it is St. Teresa.

I did take fewer pictures of the new section because frankly, it wasn’t as interesting to me as the old one. Even though the old section was a hot mess, it felt more genuine.

It would be unfair of me to say that the owners of Pet Heaven have kept up the new section and abandoned the old one because I have no information about the history of the property. Maybe the land the old section is on was sold to someone else (or the City of Atlanta) and they can’t do anything to it. That’s not unheard of when it comes to cemeteries.

Or it may be the victim of continued vandalism, a phenomenon that seems to be getting worse every year.

At the same time, people are still burying their pets here. One of the markers I saw was for June 2014. And that’s a good thing. While they are growing in popularity, pet cemeteries are still hard to find in some parts of town.

There are too many questions about Pet Heaven that I don’t have the answers to. I would love to know who originally started it and what happened over the years. Why it’s a hidden little place that few people know about.

I’m hopeful that someone who knows more about this place will contact me so I can share it with you soon.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my recent visit to Laurel Grove South Cemetery. Today, I’m going to concentrate on her sister, Laurel Grove North Cemetery (LGN).

When taphophiles (cemetery nuts like me) talk about Savannah, the first place they mention is Bonaventure Cemetery, and for good reason. Featured in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Bonaventure gets a lot of press and tour buses run through it daily. As you may have seen from pictures of it that I’ve posted on my AICH Facebook page, it’s amazing.

Because of that notoriety, LGN is a hidden Savannah gem. The first time I visited there in February, my friend Frank and I spent many hours wandering, and we only encountered one other group of people. It’s perfect for meandering about, looking at names and poking around the old moss-laden crypts and mausoleums.

My visit a few weeks ago was no different, although Frank wasn’t with me. The mere fact that LGN is quiet and obscure makes it even more attractive to a cemetery wanderer like me.

Like LGS, LGN was carved out of the former Springfield Plantation. Named after the native laurel oak trees that once inhabited the site, LGN was developed in 1850 as the Old Cemetery (Colonial Park Cemetery), the Old Jewish Cemetery, Potter’s Field and the Old Negro Cemetery approached capacity.

All of the available cemetery lots at LGN were sold during the Victorian Era. Because of that, it probably has the highest concentration of Victorian cemetery architecture in the Southeast.

About 10 years ago, the status of Laurel Grove North was in question due to some differences of opinion on how it should be preserved and maintained. You can read about that brouhaha here. It also suffers some occasional vandalism. As with Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, some of the old iron fencing is falling apart due to age and weather. But all in all, LGN is in pretty good shape.

One of the first monuments I zeroed in on was a white bronze (zinc) marker for the Dannenfelser family. William Dannenfelser emigrated to Savannah from Germany, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1856.

After first living in Norwich, Conn., William and his wife, Catherine, moved to Savannah. William was a butcher. Together, they had three children. The youngest, William Jr., was the only child born in America. He died at the age of 14 and is buried beside them.

LGN has a large number of Confederate soldiers buried there, with one section containing about 700 graves. According to one website I read, most of the veterans’ markers were in bad shape until the local United Daughters of the Confederacy requested that the Veterans Administration replace them with new ones.

One of the markers I photographed was for Private William M. Patterson, who could have been no more than 16 when he enlisted in May 1861. Unmarried, he died at Gettysburg in July 1863. Patterson was from Sterling Bluff Plantation on the Ogeechee River in Ways Station, Bryan County, Ga. His body, along with others who died at Gettysburg, was returned to Savannah in 1871.

The large statue that dominates Confederate Field is called “Silence”. She stands among the soldiers who fought at Gettysburg. The bottom of the base reads, “Here Rest ‘Till Roll Call’ The Men Of Gettysburg.”

According to a blog Gettysburg Daily, Silence’s first home was not LGN. She was originally on the Confederate Monument in Forsyth Park in downtown Savannah, situated inside a cupola. But the locals weren’t very happy about it. Some thought being inside the cupola made her look like “a canary in a cage.” So in 1878, she was moved to LGN to stand watch over the Confederate dead.

However, my favorite area is toward the back and contains a jaw-dropping Italian statue that I must have photographed from every angle. I can’t stop staring at it when I visit.

Louisa Porter was the only daughter of Dr. Adam Alexander of Inverness, Scotland, and Louisa Fredrika Schmidt of Stuttgart, Germany. Dr. Alexander came to America in 1776 and served in the Colonial Army as a surgeon during the Revolutionary War. While tending to wounded, Dr. Alexander was briefly taken prisoner by the British at the Seige of Savannah and later released to attend to a wounded British officer.

Born in Liberty County, Ga. in 1807, Louisa had an older brother named Adam. She married Anthony Porter, who was president of the Bank of Georgia, in 1824. She was his second wife. Louisa was 18 and Anthony was probably 40.

Although the Porters had no children, Louisa was very devoted to her brother’s children. Thanks to Anthony’s wealth, she was also devoted to philanthropic causes. She was on the board of directors of the Savannah Free School three times between the years of 1833 and 1855. She was also director for the Savannah Female Society during 1843 and 1855.

But Louisa’s greatest concern was for homeless women and children, and she helped to form the Industrial Relief Society and Home for the Friendless. After her death in 1888, her heirs gave a considerable part of her estate to that institution. In appreciation, its name was changed to the Louisa Porter Home for Girls.

The angel itself is made of Carara marble, signed by Italian sculptor A. Caniparoli. I couldn’t find anything at all about him online.

From the buttons on her sleeve to her enigmatic expression, this angel is a testament to Louisa Porter’s giving heart.

Of course, there’s a lot more to Laurel Grove than Louisa Porter’s angel. Time has not been particularly kind to the metalwork that abounds. But this kind of gentle decay that’s common in some Southern cemeteries can bring out a different sort of beauty worth appreciating.

LGN also has so many interesting crypts and mausoleums, it’s hard to take them all in. This Egyptian-styled one stands out.

The Gilmer-Minis family pavilion is equally elaborate.

Finally, LGN does have a few celebrities buried there. The most famous is Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts. But I was more interested in finding a more obscure celebrity, James Pierpont. The name probably doesn’t ring a bell but the song he wrote will.

Born in 1822 in Boston, James Lord Pierpoint was the uncle of the financier and banker John Pierpont Morgan. After a stint in the Navy, James married. His wife and children stayed back east while James tried his luck as a photographer during the California Gold Rush but a fire burned his goods.

In 1853, James’ wife died. His brother, the Rev. John Pierpont, Jr., accepted a post with the Savannah, Ga., Unitarian congregation. James followed, taking a post as the organist and music director of the church. He remarried and in his spare time, wrote many ballads, polkas and minstrel songs.

In August, 1857, James’ song “The One Horse Open Sleigh” was published. The song was originally performed in a Sunday school concert on Thanksgiving in Savannah. In 1859, it was re-released with the title “Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh”. While it wasn’t a hit at the time,  the popularity of the song grew to the point where it’s now one of the most popular Christmas songs ever.

I could spend another few blog posts detailing the beauties of Laurel Grove North. But for now, I’ll let you dwell on what I’ve written today. Maybe someday you can see it for yourself.

You won’t regret it.