When Joseph Carabelli, a funerary monument maker, moved to Cleveland in 1880 and established the Lake View Granite and Monumental Works near the cemetery, he encouraged Italian immigrants to settle nearby and work for him, and thus, within five years, that neighborhood became Little Italy.
That bit of history fits right in with my interest in what, for most people, are their final resting places. Cemeteries are my favorite places to visit no matter where I am. I find peace and stillness in cemeteries and when I worked at the Cleveland Public Library, Brooklyn Branch, I would opt to have my lunch across the street sitting on the grass in Riverside Cemetery rather than sit in a sterile lunchroom.
I discovered Lake View Cemetery on a walk through Little Italy, beyond the shops and bakeries up the “Hill” on Mayfield Rd. Founded in 1869 by pioneer leaders in Cleveland, it is one of the largest and most beautiful garden cemeteries if not in the U.S., at least in Ohio. It houses numerous very old and mostly deserted mausoleums, famous graves, and lavish funerary monuments, as well as the Haserot Angel and the Garfield (President James A.) Memorial including a crypt with his coffin. And so much more.
The unique gravestones and their epitaphs, some serious, some funny, but all heartfelt, speak to us as if to say, “remember those who lie beneath, for as we were once like you, so shall you soon be like us”. Here are my favorites. 

"Quando morirò Non piangere, perché non ti sentiro.
Non scusarti, perché non ti potró perdonare.
Non prendermi i fiori, perché non ti potró ringraziare e, anche se gridi i tuoi rimpianti, non saró in grado di sentirli.
Ama oggi, agisci subito, Perché domani potrebbe essere troppo tardi."