Plastic flowers and ghosts in historic cemeteries

Haunting graveyards are not part of my normal routine, but there’s something intriguing about Nevada’s old cemeteries that grab my imagination.

Many cemeteries in Nevada, such as this one in Eureka, date back to the 19th and early-20th centuries. Photo by Joyce HollisterOn a jaunt through Nevada on a recent weekend, my husband, Gim, and I found colorful vestiges of Memorial Day in Austin’s and Eureka’s historic cemeteries, where bright plastic flowers laid next to headstones and contrasted with the dry desert surroundings.

The cemeteries date back to the 19th and early-20th centuries and contain Civil War soldiers, miners, merchants, ranchers, babies, mothers, and grandmothers. Many of the graves have sunk, forming shallow depressions, and their markers are lost. Elaborately engraved headstones anchor an impressive number of graves, evidence not only of grief but of the skill of marble carvers.

Graves are often...

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