Ethnographic Observations at Christ Church Burial Grounds

Abstract

This ethnography presents observations of visitor behaviors at Christ Church Burial Grounds in Old City Philadelphia. This study shows that visitors to Christ Church Burial Grounds did not always adhere to the social rules that govern actively used cemeteries like remaining on marked paths and appropriately interacting with monuments or markers. Additionally, this study shows that most people visited Christ Church Burial Grounds by chance, rather than by plan, and that the visitors were drawn to Christ Church Burial Grounds because it is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin. Although Christ Church Burial Grounds is technically classified as a cemetery, its visitors are not governed by the same social rules that apply to actively-used cemeteries, and therefore it cannot be analyzed through the same lens.