Day 629

Also known as the Barkaloo (or Barkuloo) Cemetery, this is Brooklyn's smallest cemetery, and it's also the last remaining standalone family graveyard in the borough. There are supposedly three Revolutionary War veterans buried here, including the wonderfully named Harmonius Barkaloo. (I later discovered that his first name, to my great dismay, is probably more faithfully rendered in English as Harmanus, which just doesn't have the same harmonious ring to it. Nonetheless, I wanted to share with you the fleeting moment of pure joy that comes with imagining the existence of a man named Harmonius Barkaloo.)

Sometimes when wandering around cemeteries, I'm reminded of this passage from John McPhee's Oranges:

Grierson is a trim and well-groomed man in his late forties, with brown hair and a modest mustache. He is in the habit, rare in Florida, of working right through the lunch hour every day, pausing only, while eating a sandwich at his desk, to leaf through the telephone directory in search of unusual names, a daily amusement. The day I met him, he was beside himself with pleasure after discovering Verbal Funderburk.