Lakeside Cemetery
Continuing our tour of Gridley-related sites, how about some photos from Lakeside Cemetery in Erie, where Gridley is buried?
His grave ison a bluff overlooking Lake Erie in the cemetery’s “Gridley Circle” (go figure). In addition to various Gridley family graves, the circle features a monument to the unknown soldier and four cannon captured from the Spanish emplacements at Cavite.
The headstone is fairly understated, though the unusual mushroom shape does make it stand out.
Many of the other graves in the circle are members of the extended Gridley/Vincent family, including his father-in-law Judge John Pericles Vincent, wife Hattie Vincent Gridley, and various daughters and sons-in-law. This grave is the saddest: Gridley’s only son, John, one of 36 men who died in a tragic training accident aboard the USS Missouri in 1904.
Here are some final shots of the lone Spanish cannon pointed out over the lake, ready to fire just in case Canada ever starts getting ideas. They’ve been invaded from America at least five times, which means they’re overdue to return the favor.
