Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetary located in Hillside, Illinois was consecrated in 1901 on 214 acres of land. Across the street is another Catholic cemetary, Queen Of Heaven. The majority of my family is buried in these 2 cemetaries. Although at first glance, Mount Carmel does not appear as aesthetically beautiful as the newer Queen of Heaven, a closer look is in order. Mount Carmel has been sold out of plots for many years but they still intern about 800 souls a year. I expect this number will decline. 226,000 souls have been buried here. There are over 400 individual family mauseleums here. Most of my family is buried here. Those who are not are buried across the street at Queen Of Heaven Cemetary. Some of the headstones at Mount Carmel Cemetary are magnificent works of art.
The figure in this headstone larger than life - about 5 3/4 feet tall seated. The headstone is massive - about 12 - 15 feet high. Buried here is Joseph Guinta 1887-1928 and Baby Dominec 1922-1923.
This angel tops the headstone of Ianzito family. Buried here are Antonio (1893-1925), Carmela (1865-1935) and Leonardo Ianzito. The angel is about 4 feet tall and rests on a headstone that is 3-4 feet tall. Part of her wing has broken off.
This is the headstone that the angel stands on. There is a large urn attached to either side of the headstone. This grave is across from my great grandmother, Natalina Maiuolo, who rests under a tree.
Natalina Maiuolo rests under a tree 4 graves down from her older sister Carmela and between them 2 rows back is their brother Gaetano Scrugli.
Carmela Scrugli Martino's grave is the first grave off the street. I always find everyone else's grave because of her. Gaetano's picture has been missing for about 10 years. When I was a child and a teen my dad would get a group of the family together and take us to the cemetary. He would take us to each family grave and tell us a story about the person buried there. He would start out with the tale of 3 sisters - The Scrugli sisters - his grandmother and great aunts. We would all roll our eyes and think oh no - not this again. But we remembered.
The Onofrio headstone is another example of the many massively large headstones topped off by a statue. The headstone portion alone is over 6 feet high.
As a teenager, I spent time in this cemetary with my friends. My friend Mary had a family mausoleum here and periodically her mom would send her with the key to change the flowers, sweep up, put new candles in, etc. She often took me with her. She is buried there now with her father and grandparents. I miss her so much.
This statue looks like Saint Francesco di Paola to me but I could be mistaken.
Nicastro is a name well known to me through my genealogical research. It is the name of my great grandfather's mother and my great grandmother's grandmother. I can't help but wonder where these Nicastro's came from. Buried here is Peter 1907-1930, Angelo, Sr. 1868-1945, Emilia 1872-1960, Angelo, Jr. 1903-1950 and Alice 1905-1991.
The 2 huge urns may have once held planted flowers but now they are filled in with concrete.
Along the main road into the cemetary are 2 very elaborate graves bearing the surname Salerno. This one is the grave of John Salerno. A few feet to the right is the grave (pictured below) of Salvatore & Rose Salerno.
This massive headstone of th Trotta family plot bears an angel in mourning.
This large plot of the Santoro family plot bears 3 small headstones in the ground as well as this large headstone with a 5 foot tall statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on top. The 2 urns on either side have real (not plastic) plants in them.
More to come soon
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