clara glen pet cemetery located in linwood, nj circa 1918. it's extremely tricky to find because it looks like it happens to be in someone;s back yard. have no fear, though, i marched right up the front steps and knocked on the door. the owners were not suprised at all to see me standing there asking for permission to trapse around their back yard and look at dead pets. this seems to be a common occurence for them. it's right on shore road (which is a pretty busy highway) and you will drive right by it if you aren't looking closely). there's a small blue sign in front of the house stating what they are hiding in their yard, but that's all. this has been one of my favorite places so far. i spent a long time walking up and down the rows of graves, reading names of beloved pets. there are many different types of animals buried here (i even found a gold fish and a monkey) but one thing is for certain, they were all loved. a lot. before i forget to mention...bring bug spray. okay, now that we have that out of the way...
there were entire sections dedicated to just one family and all the pets they owned. it completely amazed me how much money people were willing to spend on making sure their beloved pets rested in peace for all eternity. crazy really. there were so many photo ops here that i can't possibly get them all in this blog post so i am adding a few just so you get the idea of how eerie yet beautiful this place was. ignore the red t shirted kid you may see in the background, he kept getting in my shot (don't worry, he's not a creeper or a ghost).
there are rumors that spot from the little rascals is buried here, but i don't think it's true. there is also supposed to be a diving horse (from atlantic city's famous steel pier) but i couldn't find it. i would expect a horse to have a big headstone right? i did find the grave a dog named lassie, but let's face it...there were a lot of dogs named lassie, i guess. the most interesting grave stone i found was that of rex the wonder dog. he actually was quite famous for his time. he was a water skiing dog made famous in atlantic city during the diving horse days. i was actually able to find footage of him in the act on the net. it was pretty comical. spend some time here, look around. make sure you read the stones. some have stories, some just have dates and names. but all of them? all of them were placed there by someone who misses their pet very much. make sure you walk all the way to the wood line in the back. there is a memorial placed there for the atlantic city police dogs who have lost their lives in the line of duty. very humbling. on to my next adventure...
