West Highland Cemetery

 

36

90

Andrew L.

Washington, DC

2/24/2008

How do you put a ranking on a cemetery? Initially it may seem offensive because we must respect the people buried there. You can't just simply go out and say. This cemetery sucks! Or, and probably more disturbing, "This is the best cemetery ever!".

So why the five stars? Well, I've been searching for my great-grandfather for a while and it took a road trip from Ann Arbor, MI all the way to Tuscaloosa, AL to find him.

I didn't know I had a doctor in the family until hearing about my great-grandfather Andrew McKenzie. He was the first Black physician in Tuscaloosa Alabama. To me, and to Tuscaloosa, that's something special. The city must have thought so because they named the McKenzie Courts after him.

It was surreal seeing his grave site and seeing one of my middle names on the large headstone on the top of the hill (it took 4 people to spread out and find it). Even more amazing were the fresh flowers at each of my relative's headstones. I heard I had cousins in Alabama. It was too bad we were just passing through or I would have said hi. Maybe they're on Yelp, lol, or maybe they'll see this on Google.

Thanks to Ms. Melton of the Murphy African American Museum for helping me along the way. Thanks to the two cops parked next to some other cemetery near the AU stadium who pointed us in the right direction. And thanks to the guy at the mortuary for more directions; even though the mortuary was closed you opened your doors to help us and I really appreciate that (we got lost a lot).

RIP long lost relatives :)

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