Not-So-Traditional Celebration Of St. Patty's Day At Philadelphia Cemetery
By Justin Udo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Parades, bar crawls and hearty dinners are some of the more popular ways to spend St. Patrick's Day, but some folks spent their holiday Sunday learning about their Irish ancestry at the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
The crowd of about 50 who gathered at the cemetery for the fourth annual St. Patrick's Day Tour, Toasts and Tastes were taken around the grounds where they learned about some of the Irish who are buried there.
Bill Doran is a cemetery superintendent, and he says deciding what graves to show is a task in itself.
"Obviously we are a national historic landmark and people ask me who's the famous people buried here I tell them everybody," he said.
Marittea Dooley has taken the tour each year since it began.
"I think it's something different to do for the holiday aside from the alcohol and I feel that this showcases that as the contribution to Philadelphian history," she said.
After braving the cold for an hour and a half, tour participants were rewarded with a traditional St. Patty's Day dinner of ham, cabbage and potatoes, as well as some beer and whiskey.
