In 2014, I located the cemetery where Simpson was buried, hoping to get more information about him and the location of his grave. Sometime later I actually went to the cemetery with high hopes and high expectations of actually visiting the gravesite. Unfortunately, on my first trip I was unable to locate it. The following visit was no more productive, even though I had better information on the location of the grave. But there was no headstone or other indicator that I was in the right place. Perhaps the third trip would be the charm.
It was another year before I finally had an excuse to go back to the east coast. I was going out to an open house at the historical society where Simpson’s papers are located—where I did the bulk of my research and discovered Simpson and his remarkable life. By now we had published the first book, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to promote the book and see friends we’d made during the research. Oddly, even though we had published a lot about Simpson’s life in that book, it only made me more curious and determined to find his final resting place. This time I was going to find Simpson’s grave–I could just feel it.
The trip got off to an inauspicious start. The flight to the east coast was miserable. I had to fly through Boston, and there were rolling thunder storms up and down the east coast, wreaking havoc with air travel schedules. I barely made it onto a flight to get me to my meetings the next day. I finally got into Philadelphia very late and by the time I picked up my car and drove 45 minutes north to Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania it was 3.30 in the morning. I was supposed to be at my first meeting at 9.30AM, about 20 minutes from the hotel, so needless to say I did not get much sleep.
I went to my meeting in the morning and then I started working my way south to Vineland. My first stop was at the location of Henry Auchy’s famous Chestnut Hill Park, the site of one of the earliest successful venues for Skee-Ball, that first year the game was on the market. It’s now known as James A. Cisco Park, and its history as a famous amusement park has been lost. I took some pictures there.
I took a couple of pictures of Henry Auchy’s house which is still standing as well—with no markers. Then I went around the corner to photograph the old Wheel Pump Inn. It’s said that the animosity between the owner of The Wheel Pump Inn and Chestnut Hill Park played a big part in Auchy’s decision to close the park. The abrupt closing of the park was a big blow to Skee-Ball back in 1912, and a huge blow to Simpson. But there was no trace of this history anywhere in the neighborhood. Again, the specter of obscurity.
I left the park and worked my way south to Duval Street in Philadelphia where Auchy’s Philadelphia Toboggan Company used to be located—where three Skee-Ball alleys were built for Chestnut Hill park, and where 35 years later, they would be built once again. The building was still standing, but boarded up, with the paint peeling and in shabby disrepair.
Finally, I worked my way south again, to the cemetery. This time, I would be more methodical. Using the mansion at the cemetery as the starting point, I worked my way down to section H again. I noticed on the map that in addition to the various sections being mapped out, there were two other features about the map that had escaped my attention.
First between the various sections I realized there were “paths” that correlated to the brick paths at the cemetery.
The second thing I noticed was that there were boxes drawn in some of the sections some with open sides, some completely closed. It finally dawned on me that those boxes on the map correlated to areas in the cemetery that had actual walls or some kind of bounding stone work that set off a group of graves. Using that I tried to determine where the bounds of the section where lots 92-94 would be.
It was a Thursday, and the cemetery was all but deserted. I searched quietly by myself. I sensed that I was close, but I couldn’t seem to find what I was looking for. I stood there in my best Indiana Jones pose, surveying the landscape. It was hot with the August sun was beating down, and it felt like I was looking for a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately I couldn’t use the strategy some others have suggested when looking for a needle in a haystack, namely burn down the haystack. I hated that I might have to give up yet again, but I needed to get to Vineland for dinner with friends and colleagues. Frustrated, I got in the car and wended my way south. I wasn’t sure that I could get back on this trip but I felt that I was so close that I did not want to give up.
Friday, I was scheduled to go to the Jersey shore to scout locations for the documentary we are working on, so I got up and drove to Atlantic City. I walked around on the newer part of the boardwalk, where everything was shiny and modern.
A little farther down the boardwalk were the remains of the Taj Mahal Resort and Casino, now shut down due to bankruptcy. Walking a few blocks off the boardwalk I was reminded what happened to Atlantic City in the 1970s, when the first casinos moved in. The houses were boarded up as far as the eye could see and there were no people. Things have gotten slightly better, but much of Atlantic City is depressing once you leave the boardwalk. No traces of a time when it was brimming with excitement and energy. Those days have long gone. But before the day was out, I went to Point Pleasant to play some Skee-Ball in honor of my youthful days at the shore, and in memory of its inventor. And then it was time to head back.
Saturday I spent my day at the open house of the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society and the talk which followed about New Jersey diners. All in all a fascinating day.
I woke up Sunday realizing I had an open schedule. It was time go back to the cemetery in Philadelphia and try one more time to locate Simpson’s grave. I had been giving the search a great deal of thought as I drove back and forth to the shore and realized I had some tools which I had not been using that might make the search easier. Thinking like a computer scientist (which is what I am after all), I decided that if I could locate other graves in the area and determine their lot numbers I would be able to zero in on the area where Simpson and the family ought to be. This was the first original strategy I had come up with in some time and I was heartened that I might finally find his grave.
So I drove back to the cemetery. I started back at the mansion and then drove around until I got to section H. Using the Maps app on my iPhone the first thing I noticed was that I was once again on the wrong road in the cemetery on Thursday when I was last here, now I was one road over and some of the landmarks made more sense. I used the cemetery app searching for graves and was not finding anything, so I switched over to the FindAGrave app. That was giving me better results but things were slow going. I would look up a grave and find that it was in the 170s meaning I was too far in the wrong direction. So I would go a few graves down and try again. Sometimes there wasn’t any lot information so I was guessing.
An hour passed, then two. I was still looking. I knew that I was finally in the right area but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Finally I found a grave with the designator H93. Huh? H93? That’s right in the middle of the Simpson plot. And what does N1/2 mean?
I sat down and thought. I’m in the right spot but things were not lining up. This was the closest I had ever been! I walked back and forth, looked around, looked at the ground like something would leap up at me. Nothing. There were several toppled stones but even the smallest was far heavier than I could move. Reluctantly I slowly started to give up. I took a panoramic picture from where I thought the grave might be and some shots of the grave marker at H93 (did I mention that at times I felt like I was playing Battle Ship?).
I had noticed that Simpson’s beloved aunt Sophia Maria Brognard’s grave was also in the cemetery so before I left I thought I’d see if I could find her grave.
Now armed with a better knowledge of the cemetery I dutifully marched off to section F where she was buried and went looking—for over an hour. I could not find anything. It was obvious that I was in the right area, but there was no marker. Was it possible that she was buried without a marker? There was a man playing saxophone sitting on top of one of the mausoleums. It had an appropriately haunting sound. I asked him what ne knew about the cemetery and he told me that he didn’t know anything and went back to playing his haunting tune.
I walked back to where I had been searching for Simpson’s grave looked around one last time then went back to the car and drove back to my hotel. I had one final idea.
Monday morning I called the cemetery and explained my search. The nice person that I spoke to pulled up Simpson’s plot information and told me she had bad news for me. The plots had never had headstones or other markers. I asked about the possibility of having a headstone added and was told that generally the addition of markers to historical graves was not allowed but I could file a petition asking for a waiver.
I drove to the airport, somewhat depressed and flew home. Relatively speaking the flight was uneventful. The following day, Tuesday, I sent a note requesting a picture of the gravesite and information about filing a petition.
I got the pictures a couple of days later, and found I had, in fact, found Simpson’s grave. I’d been sitting at the gravesite.
I sat staring into space for a few moments. In one of Simpson’s articles about the beautiful game of Skee-Ball, he had noted:
“Games that are played when they have become old are rare. Of those that remain, their origins are lost in antiquity.”
He wrote that in 1909. And the words were prophetic. One hundred and ten years later, Simpson had indeed been lost to antiquity. But that would not be the end of the story if I had anything to say about it.
And a plan began to take shape…
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
