Big Coppitt Cemetery

I think I should like to be buried here. If I didn't want my ashes scattered at sea, that is. Here's why:

BIG COPPITT KEY: For storied Keys graveyard, new life and owner - Top Stories - MiamiHerald.com

The Key West cemetery is a repository of history and is well known as a tourist destination, much to the annoyance of family members of those buried in that public space. Big Coppitt by contrast is serene, wide open and free of hassle.

Key West Diary: Key West Cemetery 2013

These plots have stories to tell of less well known characters than in Key West, perhaps but the cemetery is well worth the walk for the serenity and the scenery.

I put Cheyenne in the car for a drive through as most cemeteries don't much appreciate dogs. Wasn't I surprised to see this sign in the middle of the field?

Aside from a headstone in the Weekly family name the only other one I recognized was this one, of the well known artist whose work was recently on display at the Customs House.

 I found this picture online of the two of them planning their final resting place! Brilliant.

Key West is considering spending a quarter million or more on a new sexton's house. Here in Big Coppitt the quarters are more modest.

They make their own headstones here which I found quite fascinating and when I wandered by I actually met the sexton but she declined to be photographed so you will have to imagine a cheerful woman surprised by my interest in her cemetery. I might not mind being buried here. Not at all.

KEY WEST- FL The final destination for a life well lived.

It's easy to find, simply turn north off Highway One at Bobalu's Restaurant in Big Coppitt. And take your dog, it's a great walk.

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Jack Baron, Artist

I almost walked past the exhibit at the Art and History Museum on Front Street but the astonishingly bright colors sucked me in. Whoa! I thought, primitivism writ large!

Besides, I have a penchant for pink, exhibited in my own small way with my Crocs, my iPad cover and my phone holder, so how could I not take a peak at something with a label like this?

I had never previously heard of Jack Baron, my loss as a quick scan of a bio on the Gingerbread Square website showed me quite clearly this was a man with talent.

Apparently Baron was 78 years old when he died in Key West in 2005. A native of new York he spent 52 years with his partner Robert, who it turns out was the man responsible for giving him the push to express himself in paint and tapestry. Because if you look closely these "paintings" are made not from paint:

Baron's work deserves a closer look and from my perspective, not being an art critic or anything, I was simply bowled over by the notion that someone could crotchet or knit or whatever a full sized portrait like this, an act of faith and patience byond my ken:

The Museum in the red brick Old Customs House has habit of doing this to me, surprising me and delighting me when I least expect it. I mean, you go and expect to see interesting historical exhibits, or Hemingway memorabilia, But Jack...Who? What a great find.

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