Category Archives: The Backyard Tourist

Mar 1 2012

The St. Louis Exorcist

Next on our stop at Calvary last Saturday was the grave of Rev. William Bowdern.

Bowdern was the chief exorcist in the 1949 exorcism of a young boy here in St. Louis, which was the inspiration for the 1971 book and 1973 movie The Exorcist.

Bowdern’s grave is in an area dedicated to numerous priests, all sharing a marker with two or three others.  I’ve done some research as to why they share a stone, but have not been able to find anything.  If anyone out there knows, please feel free to share by comment.

Feb 29 2012

Dred Scott

Here’s another picture from our trip to Calvary Cemetery last Saturday.  This is the famous grave of Dred Scott, the first slave to ever sue for his freedom. The case was tried right here in St. Louis in the court house downtown. It’s supposedly good luck to leave a penny (Lincoln side up) at his grave, and so we did.

Feb 28 2012

Blow out your candles, Laura…

Here’s another picture from last weekend’s trip to Calvary Cemetery.

This is the grave of Rose, Tennessee Williams’ beloved sister. She was the inspiration for Laura in his play Glass Menagerie. The quote on her stone is the last line of the play.

Poor Rose suffered from schizophrenia and her parents approved a frontal lobotomy, so poor Rose remained institutionalized for almost all of her adult life.

Dear Rose, you are always in my thoughts.

Tennessee Williams[6]
Feb 15 2012

Returning to Tennessee

January 30th, 2011, J and I finally found Tennessee Williams’ grave site at Calvary Cemetery. I blogged about it here.

In November of 2008, we had visited Calvary and its neighbor Bellefontaine Cemetery (read about that in two blog posts found here and here).  We went there to enjoy the fall colors and to photograph the cemetery, not even knowing at the time that Williams was buried there.

I also was not paying attention to the fact that Williams’ 100th birthday was last year! But I plan to revisit him this year on February 25th – the 29th anniversary of his death.  Williams’ will turn 101 on March 26th.

In my EverNote review from Monday, I mentioned that I had been researching TW for a project I’m currently working on. That project is a sequel to my 2009 book, Stealing Wishes, in which the ghost of Williams will make an appearance and play an important part throughout the book. But more about that later.

Besides obvious researching online, I’ve started reading his biography, Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams, written by Lyle Leverich in 1995. Sadly, I’ve owned a copy of the book since then and really had no desire to read it until this year. I started it just a few days ago. Even sadder, Leverich died just 4 years after the book was released, so his 2nd volume of the bio has never been published (nor possibly even finished).

Next I plan to Read Harry Rasky’s book: Tennessee Williams: A Portrait in Laughter and Lamentation. At just 148 pages, it should be a very quick read compared to the 600 plus pages of Leverich’s book. I landed it as a free copy on BookMooch last year shortly after visiting his grave. Upon looking into it a bit further, I learned Rasky wrote it after filming a bio about Williams called South, a DVD I will surely have to pick up soon.

I also secured a copy of Williams’ own book entitled Memoirs which hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m eager to have a look at it because it’s in his own words.

And I’ve been eager to watch every film that was made based on his plays.  The classic film stars who played in them is quite impressive: Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift…just to name a few!

So what does all this mean for me?  Besides satisfying an odd obsession I seem to be having right now with the playwright, more than likely it means that writing my book will be slow going since I’m writing it as I research.  Oh well, at least I’m having fun doing it, and that’s what matters!

And if you read my blog here, I’m sure you can look forward to lots more posts about TW posts.  Oh, and definitely some pics from the trip on the 25th!

By the way, the portrait above was the cover of a 1962 edition of Time Magazine.

Oct 19 2011

Thies Farm, Creve Coeur – October 2011

It wouldn’t be October without a trip to Thies Farm. With family in town, we visited this past Saturday. The kids enjoy Pumpkinland and my brother-in-law loves their jams and preserved goods. Always eager for an opportune photogenic moment, I luckily had my camera in tow. I especially enjoyed the piles of pumpkins and gourds.  The closeups made for some nice photos that I thought would make awesome puzzles. I wish now I’d bought one of the red pears and tasted it, something I’d never seen before and may go back and get!

Remind me to get my mums here next year too.  The larger ones were 6 for $20!

Sadly, the farm closes for the season on October 31st, but their original location off 170 (which is actually closer to my house) is open through December.

Oct 1 2011

Turn The Page

I’m really excited to be attending the grand opening of a new bookstore today here in St. Louis, All On The Same Page Bookstore, which opens today at 10am  at 11052 Olive Blvd.

I’ve been following their blog online ever since a Facebook friend pointed it out to me.  And to think that just down the street a few weeks ago a big retail giant Borders store closed its doors, and not a month later out of that ruble comes a brand new indie store.

I hear it every day at my job…Book sales are down!  Book sales are down!  And while I think that yeah, sales in the physical bookstores are down,  people have to be still reading.  They are just buying online because of deep discounts and not having to deal with a lack of customer service. I’m guilty of that myself and have experienced it first hand when I visited retail chain stores for The STL Bookstore Review.  But it’s also the reason I want to be here today when this store opens its doors for the first time. I want to feel the excitement and support this new venue.

Obviously, with Borders closing down the street the owners felt this community still needed a bookstore.  I couldn’t agree more.  This store plans to have a mix of new and used stock, and also wants to support local authors.  There’s going to be an author there today signing books!

My point is books aren’t dead and readers and book lovers are still here.  If we weren’t, there wouldn’t be someone opening a new store and trying to keep that love alive. I wish them all the best.  And check out my review of the store tomorrow on STL Bookstore Review.

Sep 20 2011

The Butterworth Cemetery, Dyer County, 2011

I had the privilege of visiting what is known as The Butterworth Cemetery this past weekend while seeing my family in Dyersburg.  My father had spoken of an old cemetery hidden in a grove of trees near his home.  I had always wanted to visit but most of the time it was too wet.  This weekend was perfect so he took me back there to see it.  The cemetery sits about a half mile off the road and halfway through a corn field, near the edge where a grove of trees extends out from the property line.

I was shocked to find every stone there had been turned over, obviously vandalized.  I took the photos above, recording what stones I could read which were lying face up.  Then, I went home and started researching.  It didn’t take long before I came across the TN Roots website which confirmed this as the Butterworth Cemetery.  That’s what I had first searched for since most of the names I read were Butterworth.  The site has photos of the cemetery from 2006 when they were still standing, and a record of all that are buried there.

I printed this information and gave it to my father who was well pleased to receive it.  He plans to share it with some of his neighbors who also know about the cemetery.  It broke my heart to know the place was forgotten and had been vandalized, but after viewing many of the other cemeteries recorded on this site, it seems that a lot of the old family plots in that area have suffered the same fate.  I wish there was more that I could do.

 

Sep 15 2011

10 Years Ago Today…

…I awoke at 5am for the last time in my home in Memphis.  I packed the last of my belongings into my car, those which the moving van had not taken the day before, like the TV because I was still watching 9/11 coverage.  I said good-bye to my good friend and roommate George.  I said good-bye to Memphis. And then I drove five hours to St. Louis and signed the lease on my new apartment and on a new life.  The moving truck arrived shortly after with my furniture and clothes.  I had no personal friends here.  I did have a job at least, which was the main reason for me moving to St. Louis in the first place.  I would report to work for my first day just two days later on Sunday.

However, work was not my only intention. I had lived in Memphis for six years and had not had a serious relationship that had lasted longer than a few months. In April the following year, I’d get my wish when I met someone who I spent a year with.  But he wasn’t the one.  In July 2003, I not only switched jobs but also met the love of my life. Yep, I’d spent two years in St. Louis and still wasn’t getting what I wanted from life and then I met J. That was 8 years ago and we are still together. We moved in together shortly after meeting, adopted two dogs, bought a house two years later.  Adopted another dog together. And here we are, still together having just celebrated our 8 year anniversary this past July.

People often say to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.  And I’d say that’s very true in my case if you indeed want what you wished for. I wanted love…serious love. I wanted stability in a relationship. I wanted a friend. I wanted the self-esteem, pride, and joy that comes from having someone in your life.  From loving someone and knowing they love you back. I didn’t want to be alone anymore, and I’m not. I’ll admit St. Louis has not been kind to me. It’s too far north for my taste.  It’s been difficult making good friends. But in the end, after 10 years, I can at least say it made my wish come true and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.

Sep 11 2011

9/11 Memorial – St. Louis Missouri

We went to the St. Louis Art Museum where the 9/11 Memorial was erected for today consisting of almost 3,000 American flags – one for each person that died that day from the attacks.  The museum lawn is breath taking anyway, but to see all those flag flying on a nice day like today was just amazing to see.  I was very impressed with the dedication on each flag showing the person’s name, their age, location, and where they died. Some even had a photograph of that person.  What an honor to see that today and to be a part of it! We will never forget!