Hungry Tree

This is the grave of Henry Mumford Taylor and Annie Gilmore buried at Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery in Santa Rosa, CA. The tree was literally beginning to consume the stone. I am no botanist so there is no way to tell the age of the tree. Henry Mumford Taylor was born on 3 May 1831 in Pittsylvania, VA. He died on 6 Feb 1902 in Occidental, CA. He married Annie Florence Gillmore on 28 Oct 1872 in San Francisco, CA. His wife Annie Florence Gillmore was born on 4 Aug 1844 in England. She died on 18 Dec 1913 in Santa Rosa, CA. This is the only information I could find on the two. It makes me wonder how long before the stone is entirely consumed.

Santa Rosa Rural was a beautiful cemetery full of huge oak trees. It was the rainy season and I was doing some scouting for a friend that likes to shoot models in cemeteries. My assignment was to scope it out due to the recent rains and see if it would be too muddy for a model to walk around there all day. Sadly it was too muddy for the model but it wasn't too muddy for me. I stayed there for a couple hours wandering from place to place as I always do. When I finally finished I noticed they had a map at the entrance to the cemetery. Like a kid in a candy store I walked right by it. On the map they had markers placed signifying important grave sites within the cemetery. I started my tour all over again and ended up spending another hour or so there taking the walking tour. It was a great cemetery. They even had a work party that meets once a month to clean up garbage that people left behind and do some straightening. They allow people to show up and help out so maybe I'll be heading back on clean up day. The good thing is the people cleaning up around the cemetery seem to allow the cemetery itself to naturally age. I really liked that about this work party.


This was another great tree that could be found there. Where most cemeteries would have simply chopped it down, this one did something to support it so it could continue to live. I'm a big fan of trees and I commend the cemetery for allowing this beautiful tree to just be. Of course it's now receiving a little help but still beautiful.








This is an example of the wonderful trees and foliage that could be found here as well. I'll be going back real soon...