November 2020 • Nebraskaland 47
The bones were buried later in a
communal graveyard. The practice of
cemetery burial by these prehistoric
people indicate their deep regard for the
afterlife."
By this point in the day, with the
light fading, I caught myself speeding
to read one more marker before I
headed back to my real world. The Ox-
Bow Trail welcomed me in Ashland,
marking the route that carried
thousands of settlers West beginning
in the 1840s and a quick history lesson
on a body of water that had been an
afterthought for years. "Just west of
here was an important ford across Salt
Creek, where limestone ledges form a
natural low-water bridge."
Before I fi nished my drive home, I
refreshed the app and was given an
entirely new set of markers a short
distance away, including the Armour
and Company Icehouse northwest of
Memphis. The discovery was a well-
needed escape for me.
The following afternoon I needed
another short adventure after we
couldn't throw strikes. I found myself
at the New Pennsylvania Cemetery
just east of Gretna. I read the marker, as
I had the others on my brief adventure,
but then went even farther and started
walking through the cemetery.
Headstones from the 1800s littered
the area, some fi ghting to stand
upright and others leaning against the
closest tree. Then I saw a small row of
fi ve headstones, each equal in height
and symmetry, and I reluctantly
walked toward them.
Between the 1870s and the early
1890s, A.J. and H.F. Rishel tried to start
or extend their family, yet at least fi ve
times they lost a child — from birth
all the way through 7 years old. With
an 11-year-old, 8-year-old and 1-year-
old, each with their own distinct
personality, of my own, I couldn't help
but realize my own sports stupidity,
where throwing strikes and catching
pop fl ies didn't mean as much as it did
10 minutes before.
What fi lled my thoughts now were
questions. Who were these people?
Did they have other kids who lived?
Were the parents buried there? If not,
why?
Upon returning to my house, I found
myself researching the Gretna Public
Library and ancestry.com looking for
answers as well as other knowledge
about those buried there.
I came to fi nd out 72 people are
buried in the New Pennsylvania
Cemetery, yet only 53 are marked.
In a sense, I had visited two mass
gravesites in the past two days, with
a lot more questions than answers in
my mind.
It was an adventure in the truest
sense of the word. It was mysterious,
thought-provoking and intelligent.
And it was in my own backyard.
Or, as far as I wanted to drive across
Nebraska.
N
The New Pennsylvania Cemetery is a remarkable display of Nebraska history in my own backyard of Gretna. Th The Ne P w Penn l sylvania Cemetery is a rema k rkabl ble di di l splay f of N b Nebraska hi histor i y in my own backya d rd f of Gretna.
