Grave Hunters

The other day, we were driving around in pursuit of a store that sold quality hardwood for an upcoming project and found a place outside of Platte City.  While discussing the area with Larry, I remembered that my family has a connection to Missouri, more specifically to Plattsburg.  One thing led to another, and the next day we found ourselves in the Jeep headed for a rural cemetery outside of Plattsburg in Clinton County.  Like most spur of the moment trips, we ended up having a fun day exploring the area and tracking down resources for our family tree.

Apparently driving to the cemetery was very tiring.

A little white church on a winding country road.

We have to look through all of these?

My great, great, great grandparents and great, great, great uncle.  It appears that my grandparents' stone has been replaced as compared to their son's stone next to them. 

 AJ took notes at each of the headstones, including my great, great, great aunt and her husband.  Here, he is checking to make sure he has everything before we leave the cemetery.  As morbid as it may seem, we enjoyed walking through the cemetery looking at the different gravesites.  Some of the stones were beautiful in their design and true testaments to the devotion of their loved ones.  I was especially saddened by the mothers that buried their young children, including one mother who buried 3 children in the span of 3 years.  None of the children lived to be older than 6 months.  I was also touched by my children's thoughtfulness when they picked clover flowers and laid them on the graves of our family and young children in the cemetery. 

Leaving the cemetery and heading to Plattsburg, the kids weren't quite as sleepy.

On the way into Plattsburg, we passed this cute, little gas station that had been turned into  a real estate office.

Plattsburg has a walking and driving tour of old, historic homes.  This is one of them.

This is Whiskers Antiques.  We had to stop in and look at the merchandise in honor of Mr. Whiskers.  The owner told us it was named for his 30 pound Maine Coon cat.  We ended up talking to him for close to 30 minutes and he gave us some helpful advice for tracking down additional information about my family.  He also gave each of the kids a free item from his store. 

This is the original burglar alarm for the town bank. 

We worked up quite an appetite while hunting for graves, so we stopped in Plattsburg for lunch.  We ate at a charming family restaurant that served the best chicken fried steak and chicken fried chicken.  In keeping with our adventurous spirit, Lexi and I shared a piece of Gooseberry pie.  It was surprisingly tart.  I don't think either of us would order it again, but I'm glad we tried something new.

After lunch, Lexi decided to quiz Larry on his knowledge of U.S. presidents, using a deck of cards found in a basket of toys and books.  As noted by our end score, both of us could stand to relearn some areas of American history.

Not to be outdone, AJ decided to quiz Daddy too.