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Okay, I know some people really, really love their jobs, but John Hopkins — I’d go by Jonathan — really loves his work.
As a hoisting rig slowly removed the 1,200-pound ledger tombstone - cobwebs dangling from the marker’s ends - John Hopkins could barely contain his excitement today at the Christ Church Burial Ground. Hopkins is the church’s burial ground coordinator, and workmen were opening vaults in the church’s allee, a narrow section of the burial ground that contains 20 large vaults built in the early 19th century and the remains of numerous prominent Philadelphians interred in them.
As the stone rose higher - accompanied by a strong musty smell - Don Smith, executive director of the Christ Church Preservation Trust, exhorted onlookers: “Go ahead, be the first person to look inside for more than a hundred years.” Hopkins’ eyes lit up as he looked down into the 36-foot-deep, hand-dug brick vault.
“I see a skull right there!” he shouted.
No, no, it’s “Is this a skull I see before me?” Wait, I think I’m getting confused, too. But, hey, Mr. Hopkins is happy.
“I feel like I can give tours on a more personal basis now that I’ve been able to see into the graves of people I talk about every day,” he said.
Hmm. Maybe this is what Blondell Reynolds Brown was talking about when she championed tour guide regulation. How can we adequately ride the ducks if the drivers haven’t seen the crypts of our founding fathers?
19th-century vaults opened at Phila. cemetery [Inquirer]
March 29: City Council To Improve Citizens’ Lives Again
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