Raleigh’s hot sledding spot is a cemetery, a historic and respectful ride
Near downtown, sled fans in the know all head for Oakwood Cemetery, which provides the steepest slopes and the most tolerant company.
More than 50 sledders packed into the historic graveyard Sunday, taking the hills face-first, doubled-up with friends and even backward as parents howled, “Watch out! Watch out!”
“It’s very, very fast,” said Brittson Boise, a fourth-grader at Conn Elementary, “and I like it.”
Sledders here don’t disturb any eternal rest. The sledding ground covers a flat field near the gate where Oakwood neighbors also gather for pig pickins and Easter egg rolls free of actual graves.
And for pre-teen sledders, it offers thrills one step down from Dix Park, where NC State University students sometimes build ramps and fly past riding ironing boards and laundry hampers.
For the Oakwood kids, Sunday’s snow made up for a Saturday of disappointment watching out the window at a few lonely flakes. By the time it piled up Saturday night, many had gone to bed.
“We were watching people trying to escape,” said Bloise, noting the mass exodus from downtown Saturday night. “They were swerving all over, traveling at the speed of light.”
But by Sunday, all turned quiet but for the occasional child’s shriek over a wet bottom or an accidental tumble.
“There’s something so wholesome about it,” said Mike Bloise, Brittson’s dad. “It doesn’t burn fossil fuels. It’s not competitive. It’s just pure fun.”