Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday- Von Trapp Family Cemetery, Stowe, Vermont


Maria von Trapp's grave

The Von Trapp Family Cemetery

My father-in-law and Hubby
in front of the
Our Lady of Peace Chapel

Last week there were many notices on genealogy websites and on Facebook about the death of Agathe Johanna Erwina von Trapp, the eldest daughter of the famous singing family from “The Sound of Music” film. She will be buried next spring at the family cemetery at Stowe, Vermont’s Trapp Family Lodge. I mentioned, as an aside on some Facebook wall, that I had photographed this family plot a while ago. There were a rush of comments and email from people asking me to post those photos. You can also see more photos and obituaries at http://www.findagrave.com/

The von Trapp Family Cemetery is located in front of the Lodge. According to FindaGrave.com there are nine interments at this burial site, including Maria and George Ritter von Trapp (the Captain from the film). The graves are marked with small metal nameplates on poles. Just names and dates are listed. Beautiful flowers and plantings surround the cemetery, and mark the graves. The chapel of Our Lady of Peace is a short hike up the mountain behind the lodge (about a ten minute walk uphill, five minutes down!).

For more information:

http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=agathe-von-trapp&pid=147481696&ua=mg4xla2h0sgbdj%2F91srdpg%3D%3D 
Agathe von Trapp's Obituary from Legacy.com

http://www.trappfamily.com/ the website for the Trapp Family Lodge resort

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/tombstone-tuesday-von-trapp-family.html

Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing Heather. Agathe's obituary stated she had lived in Connecticut most of her life. In a way, that surprised me somewhat but on the other hand it was interesting to read of the points of disagreement she had with the movie. Their escape created some excitement but I think I would have also enjoyed/appreciated knowing the reality of how things had played out. Anyhow - we still enjoy the Sound of Music! ;)

    Lucie

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  2. Lucie, I did enjoy reading in Agathe's comments about the film that her father was truly a warm and caring person, and not the cold military officer portrayed in the movie. After participating in the public discussions on the "Princess Kaiulani" film, and meeting the film makers, I can see that producers today are more sensitive to family and history, but still not perfect. There will always be a difference between film as art and documentaries.

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  3. It looks beautiful there and very peaceful! Thanks so much for sharing your pictures with us.

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  4. Heather - interesting grave markers. I wonder if that is done in the Austrian tradition.

    Lucie - Maria Von Trapp did write a true version of their lives. I remember that was a wonderful book. You could check it out if you want the authentic story. I wish I could give a better reference but it was many many moons ago. It wasn't one of these more recently written books.

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  5. The Von Trapp lodge is also a beautiful vacation destination. We celebrated my inlaws 50th wedding anniversary there in 1997. Beautiful alpan like setting, rolling green hill, even Sound of Music sing a long at dinner. Wonderful hike to the chapel.

    Just went on Amazon to see if I could find the book by Maria as I also read and loved it, but she has actually written 2 or 3 and 2 daughters have written one each.

    Thanks for such an interesting and timely story!

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  6. What a beautiful setting - thank you for posting these. It must be comforting to know that one's family is buried in such a lovely place.

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