RALEIGH, N.C. — Most people don’t think of a cemetery as a place they want to visit, but Raleigh’s Historic Oakwood Cemetery is trying to change that. A new addition to the 153-year-old grounds is already proving to be a sought-out attraction.

Wreaths Across America is an important tradition at the Oakwood Cemetery, the last resting place for about 2,500 veterans.

“We need to place flags on graves of veterans, so volunteers know where to put the wreaths,” Robin Simonton, the executive director of the Historic Oakwood Cemetery, said. “It’s a big task, but it’s so important to honor our veterans, and it’s a great way for the community to get involved in the cemetery and learn about our history by helping to participate for wreaths and other events.”

Simonton has worked at the cemetery for 11 years. 

“I love working with families. You know, it’s such a difficult time for people and if we can do one thing to make it just a little easier,” Simonton said.

She wants to extend that compassion to anyone who has experienced a loss by offering visitors a tool they’ve probably never used before.

“A neat way for families to try to reconnect in a symbolic fashion with the loved ones they’ve lost,” Simonton said.

She’s talking about a phone recently installed in the cemetery.

“Somebody came in just yesterday and said, ‘Well, if I pick up that phone handle, will there be a dial tone?’ No, no, there won’t be. You know, you have to use your imagination,” Simonton said.

The concept is known as a wind phone.

“There’s no dial tone. There’s no operator. But what you’re saying and who you’re speaking to can hear you because they’re all around you,” Simonton said.

It’s definitely caught people’s attention, including a mother who asked Simonton to explain it to her daughter.

“You’re not actually calling someone with a live line, but it’s a way to be able to talk to your loved ones who are gone. Then the mother stepped in and said, ‘Oh, yes. Her grandparents are here, and we just wanted to be able to talk to them today.’”

Some people have even come by with lists of people they want to call, and some find it easier to talk to their loved ones this way instead of standing at a grave.

“Talking on a phone is something that we all know how to do and it’s timeless. It’s spaceless. It happens everywhere,” Simonton said.

Simonton says everyone navigates grief differently but hopes this is just one more tool to have on that journey.

“Regardless of the type of loss, whether it’s a person, a pet or a job, we all grieve differently — and people find solace in different things,” said Simonton.

“They find solace in going to church. They find solace in sitting in a quiet place and remembering making someone’s favorite meal but some people find solace in reaching out because you do miss calling that person or being around that person. So if this is this phone is just one of the many ways people can travel that grief journey,” said Simonton.

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“I mean, it’s not something that necessarily makes sense for everyone. And it’s that’s OK, you know, but if it helps one person, then I think it’s done its job,” Simonton said. “It’s providing comfort and people are seeking it out and that means that something that is needed in our community right now.”

In the end, she wants Oakwood to be a destination for the living to find solace as much as it is a resting place for those who have passed.

“We welcome folks to the cemetery to participate, whether they’re coming to place wreaths or flags or using our wind phone. It’s all a way to understand who we are, where we came from,” Simonton said.

The concept of a wind phone originates from Japan, where a gardener there created the phone to help him cope with his cousin’s death. He then opened the phone to the public after a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The wind phone at Oakwood Cemetery is also open to the public. A local woodworker made the stand for the phone out of oak, and Simonton says they will soon landscape around it.