The Speaking Stone: Stories Cemeteries Tell is a literary love letter to the joys of wandering graveyards and the discoveries such wanderings can yield. Here, Michael Griffith roams Spring Grove (founded 1844), the nation's third-largest cemetery, following curiosity and accident wherever they lead. The result is this fascinating collection, which narrates the lives of those he encountered on the way. Griffith lingers amidst the traces left behind--these are stories of race, feminism, art, and death, uncovered through obituaries, archival documents, and family legacies. Some essays focus on well-known figures like the feminist icon and freethinker Fanny Wright, but most chronicle the lives of lesser-known figures (a spiritual medium, a temperance advocate, the designers of caskets and hearses, the inventor of the glass-door oven) or of nearly unknown ones (a young heiress who died under mysterious circumstances, the daring sign-painters known as walldogs). The Speaking Stone examines what endures and what doesn't, reflecting on the vanity and poignancy of our attempts to leave monuments that last. Archival photos grace the pages of these thirteen essays that explore a larger, deeply tangled complex of ideas about place, history, self, and art.

For some who were buried in Cincinnati's cemeteries, the graveyard is not the last stop on life's train. While today Cincinnati is one of the most populous and prosperous cities in the country, its past was not always as bright as its present--from the infamous murder of Pearl Bryan and the 19th century cholera epidemics, to the body snatchers and notorious "resurrection men" who would steal freshly-interred bodies to sell to medical colleges, even going as far to steal the corpse of Pres. Benjamin Harrison's father. In a city teeming with immigrants and transients, these "sack 'em up" grave robbers had ample opportunities to supply cadavers to Cincinnati's medical schools for a hefty profit, and if fresh graves weren't available, they simply lurked for victims in the saloons and dark alleys of Vine Street and the West End. Cincinnati Cemeteries is not only a history of graveyards and their occupants, but also investigates the culture of death and dying in Cincinnati.

Contains a historical sketch and a list of interments.

Phil Nuxhall has been having a love affair with Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum since 2001 when he became its very first historian. After digging into historical records for several years, his knowledge of Spring Grove deepened and broadened. He began giving private tours, then educated docents to give public tours, then added a tram for long-winded tours (and short-winded tourists ). As a follow up to Nuxhall's successful photography book, Beauty in the Grove: Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum, his latest book, Stories in the Grove, tells the little known narratives behind those who are buried there, and often why. From famous to infamous; from rich to poor; from spouse to lover; you'll never again think of Spring Grove as just a pretty place to walk, to jog, to bike or to bury. Nuxhall immortalizes 115 of his favorite stories in this collection that fascinates, educates, immortalizes, and entertains.

Writer/artist Giulio Macaione makes his comics debut in this breathtaking story about family and friendship. Alice can enter and share dreams by sleeping near someone, a power utterly outside her own control. After moving back to Cincinnati, Alice is stuck sharing a bedroom with her brother and worse, sharing his dreams. The bright spot in her life is her best friend, Jamie, but there's more history between their families than Alice realized, and there are secrets buried deep.