Queen of the Gypsies

[lilclyde54]

The Baboo and I had an interesting afternoon over the weekend. Back in 1905, there was a huge funeral here in Meridian as the Queen of the Gypsies was buried here in Rose Hill Cemetery. Her followers came from near and far to pay homage to her upon her demise. The Baboo and I spent an hour or so checking out her grave and others around it. Her husband , the King of the Gypsies is buried next to The Queen and one of his siblings is buried on the far side of him. This is an old, old cemetery with burials dating to the early 1800's. It is tradition among the Gypsies to honor the dead by bringing them small gifts and both the Queen's and the King's grave were covered in these offerings. There were many, many coins, tobacco products, some alcohol bottles, and lots of beads similar to Mardi Gras beads draped on the headstones. There were other things such as a couple of whistles, small toys, and gum. The oddest thing was that both the King and Queen had a small plastic green frog place in a prominent spot on their slab. It was a bit surreal. There is a local historical society that does guided tours of the cemetery in full early 1900's period costumes during the week of her death. Of course, the main focus is on the Queen of the Gypsies and the great spectacle that occurred as her subjects gave their final farewell.

Of equal interest to us was the Confederate Burial Mound situated about 50 yards from the Queen's final resting place. It stood about eight feet high and was probably about 20 ft by 20 ft square. There were CSA soldiers from 10 different states buried there with their names and states listed on a 5' by 10' slate display. There was a low granite wall surrounding the burial mound with raised corner posts. The Texas chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy had also built an additional granite monument next to one corner honoring the twenty one Texans who perished here. That was significant to The Baboo as she was born in Texas.

In addition to these two historical burial places, we also enjoyed just walking around looking at all the beautiful memorials to family members from past years. Apparently, it was expected that you place as elaborate and elegant a headstone or statue as your family could afford. There were tons of them anywhere from four feet tall to some really large ones that were probably eight feet tall. Some had multiple sculptures within the family plot.

Anyway, I have lived here for over 5 decades and never made the visit to Rose Hill Cemetery. We are trying to visit all of our local historical or recreational sites that we have bypassed before we move down to our condo in Biloxi. We certainly enjoyed this particular afternoon.

We actually spent a couple of hours in a different cemetery this afternoon out here in the sticks where we live but I will wait on that report.

[Bob Juch]

Very cool! In my family research I've spent many hours in cemeteries.