Ep60: Laura Fitzgerald - Cemetery Historian, Forest Lawn, and the Stories Carved in Stone

John sits down with Laura Fitzgerald, cemetery historian, longtime docent at Forest Lawn, and current director at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Laura has spent over two decades learning to read the stories carved into headstones, buried in burial permits, and hidden in the lives of people most of Western New York has never heard of. This is one of those episodes where you walk away looking at something familiar in a completely different way. Laura covers the origin of the Rural Cemetery Movement and why cemeteries were the original public parks before Central Park existed, the dentist buried at Forest Lawn who invented the electric chair, the remarkable and ultimately sad story of Annie Edson Taylor who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel at 63 to avoid dying poor, what the symbols on headstones actually mean, and what it is like to spend a career researching the dead. She also talks about Chautauqua, cemetery camp, stone preservation workshops, and why the best way to learn the history of any town is to walk through its cemetery. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 🎧 New episodes every week. 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond @johnrichmondlaw @richmondvona 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice. 00:00 --- Introduction 00:55 --- How Laura fell in love with cemeteries 02:23 --- 20 years at Forest Lawn and the move to Oakwood 04:05 --- Why people walk through cemeteries for fun 05:42 --- Cemeteries were the original public parks 06:15 --- What surprised Laura when she started at Forest Lawn 06:42 --- The dentist who invented the electric chair 08:17 --- The Rural Cemetery Movement explained 11:33 --- Notable residents buried at Forest Lawn 13:01 --- How to navigate Forest Lawn if you want to visit 13:33 --- Common misconceptions about cemeteries 14:03 --- Do cemeteries ever fill up 14:49 --- How burials work: perpetual funds and what happens to a grave 16:21 --- Favorite stories from Forest Lawn: Blue Sky mausoleum and the Blocker Monument 18:25 --- The fear factor: living next to a cemetery 18:49 --- Spirits for the Spirits at Oakwood 20:04 --- Have you ever had a supernatural experience 21:26 --- Oakwood Cemetery: history and who is buried there 22:50 --- Annie Edson Taylor: over the falls at 63 in a barrel 25:46 --- How Laura researches the people she finds 28:00 --- Cemetery theft: the brass sculpture story 29:12 --- Reading headstone symbolism 31:11 --- Mausoleums: what they are and what’s inside 33:09 --- Why someone should come to Oakwood 33:57 --- Teaching at Chautauqua Institution 35:37 --- What Chautauqua actually is 36:32 --- Where curiosity comes from 37:52 --- Art symbolism class and what it covers 38:33 --- Cemetery camp: the Association for Gravestone Studies 40:22 --- Stone preservation workshops and why they matter 42:01 --- Busting the fear of cemeteries 43:05 --- The best cemeteries Laura has visited 46:03 --- QR codes, GPS mapping, and what Laura wants to build at Oakwood 47:05 --- Final advice: stop and explore every cemetery you pass