Trip Report

Our annual Groundhog Day Hike highlighted in the January 2023 Masonic Cemetery eNewsletter had this note: "And since the critter is becoming increasingly difficult to spot, a special member of the cemetery staff will accompany the tour." At the cemetery entrance, we met our guide Betsy Halpern—also an Obsidian member. Betsy read a letter from Phyllis the only groundhog who lives in the cemetery. Phyllis wrote: "My great grandparents lived here when this place was a mess—at least for humans. There was actually lots of vegetation for them to eat as the place was completely overgrown in the early 1990s. My great grandmother was able to find a way into the mausoleum, which was full of mud on the floors and water seeping everywhere. She found an empty crypt to hibernate in the winter, which was really good as no predators could get in and she didn’t have to worry about rain coming into her burrow. She also was able to keep her feet clean as she didn’t have to dig a multitude of burrows..." We did spot the groundhog on our walk near a tree by Obsidian member Paul Civin’s monument. Lynn Meacham nestled the groundhog on her shoulder for the rest of the cemetery hike. Because of the below freezing temperatures, only the snowdrops greeted us. Then we hiked up to the golf course short cut to the Ribbon Trail where we met Hugh Prichard who invited us to his nearby backyard to visit the bog on our next hike. Stopping at Hendricks Park, I shared persimmon bread—just what we needed before we headed down to 19th Street for an early lunch. It was a fun morning especially sharing the cemetery and trail for some who had never been there.