I feel like it’s aptly appropriate to visit a cemetery in the rain. The heavy, humid air causing your skin to stick. Gum ball sized rain drops pelting my hat as it and my buckskin barely keep me dry. There are (unusually) no directions I can find to the exact grave marker, so I get drenched wandering around, looking for the grave of Dorthy Louise Gage.
Dorthys story is a short and sad one with no real relevance to the world, other than being the namesake to Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. As I’ve been finding a good amount of obscure graves, and was recently at a Oz Museum in Kansas, I felt compelled to search this out.
On June 11, 1898, in Bloomington, Illinois, Dorothy Louise Gage was born, niece to Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz. On November 11, 1898 (five months later to the day), little Dorothy died. The records at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery state that the cause of death was “congestion of the brain.”
Frank decided to name his main character after Dorothy thereby immortalizing her in the annals of history.
The cemetery itself is also quite nice. Many trees have been carved similar to the memorial by Dorthys. Small paths run through opposed to open roads and the quaint feeling inspires exploration. Deer run about, munching on flowers left at graves. But I am wet so I am off to the next adventure
Closest Supercharger Normal IL 3.2 mi
11 Uptown Circle, Normal, IL 61761
Evergreen Memorial Cemetary
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