Ep60: Laura Fitzgerald - Cemetery Historian, and the Stories Carved in Stone

John sits down with Laura Fitzgerald, cemetery historian, longtime docent at Forest Lawn, and current director at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Laura has spent over two decades learning to read the stories carved into headstones, buried in burial permits, and hidden in the lives of people most of Western New York has never heard of. This is one of those episodes where you walk away looking at something familiar in a completely different way. Laura covers the origin of the Rural Cemetery Movement and why cemeteries were the original public parks before Central Park existed, the dentist buried at Forest Lawn who invented the electric chair, the remarkable and ultimately sad story of Annie Edson Taylor who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel at 63 to avoid dying poor, what the symbols on headstones actually mean, and what it is like to spend a career researching the dead. She also talks about Chautauqua, cemetery camp, stone preservation workshops, and why the best way to learn the history of any town is to walk through its cemetery.Enjoying the episode?Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend.🎧 New episodes every week.Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more📱 Follow us on Instagram:@anglesjohnrichmond@johnrichmondlaw@richmondvona🎥 Follow us on TikTok:@richmondvona@johnrichmondesq📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmondFollow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.