They say the Key West cemetery has close to 80,000 people buried in it. One is allowed to visit by car or no foot or by bicycle but scooters and motorcycles are banned thanks to the bad behavior of a few.
There are the famous grave headstones of the witty and dead but so many of these vaults are simple and reverent memories of actual family members, it's hard to choose which to photograph. this one below reminded me of the Italian style where I grew up with a photo included on the headstone.
The etching of the boat was quite beautiful,and made a powerful statement. Perhaps i should be planning my headstone but my instructions are clear for my wife: cremation and scattering at sea. From the primal muck and back to it in the end. 
Mind you, when you see this sort of scenery it makes you think that perhaps eternity surrounded by flowers and sunshine might not be so bad. The other great Key West tradition is the roof over the grave which I find charming.
Work is underway to spruce up the cemetery but I find it a fine place to walk and think and enjoy some peace and quiet among the dead. that many people fear cemeteries seems profoundly odd to me.
We are lucky we have 19 acres of peace and quiet in the middle of the city available for us to be reminded so eloquently of the city's past.
I wrote a long essay about this place in 2008:
There are the famous grave headstones of the witty and dead but so many of these vaults are simple and reverent memories of actual family members, it's hard to choose which to photograph. this one below reminded me of the Italian style where I grew up with a photo included on the headstone.The etching of the boat was quite beautiful,and made a powerful statement. Perhaps i should be planning my headstone but my instructions are clear for my wife: cremation and scattering at sea. From the primal muck and back to it in the end. Mind you, when you see this sort of scenery it makes you think that perhaps eternity surrounded by flowers and sunshine might not be so bad. The other great Key West tradition is the roof over the grave which I find charming.
Work is underway to spruce up the cemetery but I find it a fine place to walk and think and enjoy some peace and quiet among the dead. that many people fear cemeteries seems profoundly odd to me.We are lucky we have 19 acres of peace and quiet in the middle of the city available for us to be reminded so eloquently of the city's past.I wrote a long essay about this place in 2008:
The thing is, the inshore waters of the Florida Keys are not terribly rough as a general rule, the temperatures are mild year round and the occasional hurricane can be ignored until the very last minute. If one's home is wrecked the loss need not be insurmountable as more such craft are to be found all over the place, some would say unfortunately.
It's important to note that a person who lives on a boat at anchor, on an official mooring or in a marina may very well not be an actual mariner. The act of living afloat does not of itself confer the ability to move the vessel from one place to another, and in fact a vessel used as a home normally becomes a stagnant hole in the water as immobile as a mangrove. 
This memorial plaque prominently displayed at the entrance gate took me aback. I knew Cheryl and it is rather a shock to realise that I am at last of an age to find reminders of my own mortality at the cemetery. She lived next door to me when I lived at anchor off Rat Key north of Key West. This elderly picture is from the early 90's if I recall correctly. She lived with birds dogs and briefly with a hedgehog on her boat. And now she is in the cemetery.
This next sign expresses perfectly the frustration and the very neighborly reason for the pleasantly worded plea.
Go Conchs indeed. Conchs (the aitch is silent as my colleague Karl is fond of saying) do like their local sports and the high school Conchs (say "konk") are closely followed. 
The cemetery holding the sailors from the Maine, and a few others, was built in Key West where the survivors and the dead were brought after the Maine blew up in Havana Harbor in 1898. At the time the explosion on the Maine 274 sailors lost their lives and 89 survived including the Captain Charles Sigsbee whose cabin was aft out of reach of the explosion. There is a Navy Base in key West off North Roosevelt named Sigsbee.
The explosion was blamed on a Spanish mine as Spain was putting down the latest Cuban rebellion with whom the US sympathized, though modern investigators suspect a fire in the coal bunker may have blown up the ammunition in the battleship the night of the 15th of February as the crew slept. In any event the destruction of the ship was used as an excuse, a Gulf of Tonkin excuse or a WMD excuse in modern terms, to enter the war and win the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam as trophies of the war for the US.
As it was Key West played a significant role in the aftermath of the explosion, with the bodies recovered from the wreck buried in the plot at the cemetery where they added the plaque above to the honor of the Mayor of Havana who did his bit apparently.
The court of inquiry was also held in Key West and now that the the war has faded into distant history and is all but forgotten- what piece of history isn't? unfortunately- this small piece of fenced land is about all that remains of the USS Maine and it's story.
Everything was gray and flat.
This sort of weather gives me sinusitis, a dull headache between my eyes and I associate that with foggy summer days in Northern California or any old day in Seattle. To be socked in with clouds in the Keys is a crime.
It was hot and muggy and felt like rain though rain never materialized in the Lower Keys. It only lasted a day, all foul weather is short lived around here happily, but while it was looming overhead it was still 90 degrees here on earth and Cheyenne was panting.
One gets horribly spoiled living at 24 degrees North latitude. One comes to expect sunshine every day, bright colors and warm waters. One stamps one's foot like a child when one does not get it. The tantrum will pass.
My view of life in the Lower Keys is quite different from theirs. Rachel's family lives in town and she has the support of parents and siblings, family reunions and outings and all the trappings of a regular family life. Noel's family also lives scattered through the suburban islands and he too has the support network of an organized and close family. One sister-in-law works in dispatch and the other is a police officer. He doesn't think of himself as Conch as he was born on the mainland but in my book if you graduate Key West High School, that's what you are. 
We pondered the seaweed and talked of trips planned to the Land of the Mouse in Orlando. Noel is one of life's optimists, I loved working with him because not only is he capable he is also funny and cheerful. An unbeatable combination at two in the morning in dispatch when all hell is breaking loose on Duval Street.
Rachel and I have worked together on and off over the years we have been in dispatch- she for ten and myself for just seven. She has sen me cry at the console and I have seen her do the same and we've disagreed and unusually for me she is more often a better judge of character than am I. When I have doubts I call her and ask her opinion and I can't remember an occasion when she was wrong about an issue or a person.
My contribution to the outing was to scout locations. My preferred spots are dry and withered in the drought but they had never seen Key Colony Beach so we drove the streets of the funny little town in the middle of Marathon. They loved the cleanliness, tidiness and order and the manicured gardens and brightly colored flowers and huge imposing mansions and condo towers. "Just like the mianland..." they muttered in awe. All the reasons I prefer the chaos and confusion of the Lower Keys... 
