Big Q Tip – How To Find Out About a Towns History

Hey Gang,

Time again for a Big Q Tip.  This one might seem a little morbid to some, but trust me, this works.  I’ve been lucky enough to have seen a fair share of this planet.  When I was younger, and able to fit in airline seats, I would travel as much as I could.  If I spent more than a day at some place I would like to find out about the history of the town.  Sure, I could’ve gone to the library, but I’m a heavy breather, and they frown on that at the library.  So, to find out a little history of the town, I would head down to the local graveyard.

This is not morbid.  If you go to a graveyard you can find the families that have been in town a long time, whether they were wealthy or poor.

You can see how hard life was when the town was young.  If you see a lot of stones of children who died young you know that it was a hard time, and a hard land.

Looking for this information will also tell you a little about crime in the community.  Are they’re a lot of vandalized plots, Graffiti markings?

You can also find out what cultures are present in the community by looking at gravestones.

I found one in Scottsbluff Nebraska which, at first, I thought was a joke.  It simply said Hamburger.  I carried around a photo of the tombstone and would joke that if Burger King, or McDonalds, would fail to sell a burger before it went bad that they would send it to Scottsbluff to be buried.  Later, when the internet was invented by the Gore guy, I did a little research and found that “Hamburger” is a family name in Scottsbluff.

The other thing I like to do is check the phone book to see if my last name is present, if it is, I would then check to see if there were any tombstone with my name on it.  After all, if you think about it, it’ll be the only chance I get to see it from a “living” point of view.

Big Q Tip;  Visit the local Cemetery for a touch of local history.