Fridays And Lovecraftian Fish Spirits: Cheers!

Market Of The Macabre 2021

In late 1835, John Jay Smith, a Quaker and librarian, recorded in his diary: “The City of Philadelphia has been increasing so rapidly of late years that the living population has multiplied beyond the means of accommodation for the dead…on recently visiting Friends grave yard in Cherry Street I found it impossible to designate the resting place of a darling daughter, determined me to endeavor to procure for the citizens a suitable, neat and orderly location for a rural cemetery.”

Smith’s very personal experience ultimately had very public implications, as less than one year later, this grieving father founded Laurel Hill Cemetery with partners Nathan Dunn, Benjamin W. Richards and Frederick Brown. When Smith conceived of Laurel Hill, he envisioned something fundamentally different from the burial places that came before it, and the site has continued to hold an important place of distinction as one of the first cemeteries of its kind. Key concepts to Laurel Hill’s founding were that it had to be situated in a picturesque location well outside the city; that it had no religious affiliation; and that it provided a permanent burial space for the dead in a restful and tranquil setting.

On May 21, 2022, I attended my first Market of the Macabre.  The street air temperature was 103 degrees.  The complaining was abundant and often.  But it was a market, in the middle of a beautiful cemetery.  And it was a ton of fun.  And I walked away with some cool stuff.

Here's a photo dump of the experience.  I'd definitely go again.  

My new stuff...

Laurel Hill Cemetery's site.

Now Drinking: Rowhouse Spirits

Took a trip to the East Falls Farmers Market this morning seeking out Innsmouth Akavit and some Poitin (Irish moonshine).  Both are stellar.  So much flavor, and unlike anything I've ever tasted.

AND I got to meet one of my favorite artists - the incredibly talented Sam Heimer.  What?  Wuh?  I think I babbled (he designs the awesome labels).

Click here for Rowhouse Spirits' IG.

And here for Sam Heimer's.

Rowhouse Spirits' Anchovy Citrus Akavit

And then both stench and sounds grew stronger, so that I paused shivering and grateful for the cut’s protection. It was here, I recalled, that the Rowley road drew so close to the old railway before crossing westward and diverging. Something was coming along that road, and I must lie low till its passage and vanishment in the distance. Thank heaven these creatures employed no dogs for tracking—though perhaps that would have been impossible amidst the omnipresent regional odour. Crouched in the bushes of that sandy cleft I felt reasonably safe, even though I knew the searchers would have to cross the track in front of me not much more than a hundred yards away. I would be able to see them, but they could not, except by a malign miracle, see me.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth, H.P. Lovecraft

I will absolutely get my hands on this offering from Rowhouse Spirits...

Their IG here.