This TikToker Bakes Recipes She Finds On Gravestones

While studying library science at the University of Maryland last year, digital librarian Rosie Grant was tasked with creating a social media account to learn how networks work. Choosing TikTok as the social platform to explore, Grant wondered what theme to focus her posts around. A professor suggested she pull inspiration from the local Congressional Cemetery, where Grant was interning at the time as an archivist.

Home to well-known historical figures like J. Edgar Hoover and John Philip Sousa, the professorly nudge resulted in the creation of @ghostlyarchive, a school project that would grow to become much more.

According to TODAY Food, the caption of Grant’s first TikTok video read, “I’m going to start making recipes from gravestones,” and garnered 1.3 million views. Grant shared in honest uncertainty, “There’s no instructions so I’m guessing a lot / if a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie had a baby / they’re to die for.” Apparent pun intended.

@ghostlyarchive FYI recipe also calls for Turkish Delight, but I couldn’t find any locally #graverecipe #cemeterytiktok #gastroobscura #gravetok #cemeteryexploring #bakingtiktok #bakersoftiktok #recipevideo #cemeterytok #taphophile #atlasobscura #gravestone ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

Baking was new to Grant at the time, so experimenting with recipes etched into gravestones, which were often cryptic, was no easy feat. As a result, much of her post mortem-pastry journey has involved troubleshooting and learning on the fly.

“I think the spritz cookie is my favorite one to make,” Grant shared. “They’re very pretty. They’re these cute little butter cookies.”

The recipe was found on the Brooklyn-based Greenwood Cemetery gravestone of a woman by the name of Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 79 years old. Unfortunately, the recipe only listed seven ingredients, without instructions, temperature and cooking time included.

@ghostlyarchive Visited my first recipe gravestone IRL! #cemeteryexploring #cemeterytok #recipegravestone #gravestonerecipe #tombstonetourist #bakingrecipe #recipesoftiktok #taphophile ♬ Until I Found You – Stephen Sanchez

“I didn’t know what a spritz cookie was at first, so I cooked it kind of like a sugar cookie,” said Grant, choosing to follow suggestions from commenters on her TikTok, she invested in a spritz press.

“People were recommending different ways to make the cookies, so I read through all the comments to understand how to make the cookies correctly and made it again and again,” she said.

Grant has since begun documenting her journey, discovering a fudge recipe at the gravesite of Kay Andrews in Utah, as well as Ida Kleinman’s signature nut rolls in Israel. Now, fans of her @ghostlyarchive account send recipe-laden gravestones for Grant to make.

@ghostlyarchive Trying the fudge again #cemeterytiktok #recipegravestone #gravestonerecipe #gravetok #recipesoftiktok #bakersoftiktok #taphophile ♬ original sound – Rosie Grant

“Just a few weeks ago, a woman reached out and her mother has a savory cheese dip recipe on her gravestone, which is so good,” Grant said, adding that she’s already cooked it once and was swiftly told by her followers that she made it incorrectly.

“I’ve gotten the ingredients to do it again, which is all part of learning how to cook,” she said.

While Grant doesn’t nail every recipe in its coffin, she notes that responses from followers usually revolve around celebrating the flavorful lives these people lived rather than their passing.