I have always been fascinated by grave yards. I love their seclusion and beauty. The funny thing is I do not want to buried in one. The thought of spending eternity in a confined space 6 feet under creeps me out. I would rather be sprinkled above to help the wild flowers grow.
I take volunteer for the web site findagrave.com. When someone has a loved one or someone they are researching for geneology in a grave yard in my area I receive an email request to find the grave and photograph it.
This past Sunday my husband and I went on the hunt for a grave at the Millburn cemetary in Millburn IL. One of my favorite cemetaries. While we did not find the lady we were looking for after 3 hours I did get some cool pics. Enjoy!
*If you a a grave yard visitor like me, please consider bringing a bag for garbage and wiping off graves stones when you can. I have even righted a few stones that fell over or were knocked over. BUT please do not hurt yourself to lift a stone.
Strang family plot. The cemetary is dedicated to them.
the fence on the outskirts of the grave yard is at least 100 years old. Many trees grew through it over the decades and this section finally fell down with this rotted tree.
I tripped over this lidded box between two rows of graves. I pryed the lid open and found this. I thought maybe it was used in the old days for a gas light? Anyone know? I did not see any others like it. But they could have been sunk under the ground.
This was by a child's grave:
"Alice" was in an odd spot sideways behind the tree. I am not convinced her grave is there. The headstone may have fallen and was not put back properly. But you never know especially in grave yards that have old and new stones.
"Norman" 6 years old. This stone was firmly stuck after months of rain. I fear it will be crushed or grown over unless someone fixes it.
"Lillian's" lovely marker was either knocked over in our bad storms or vandalized.
She was only 9 and got an expensive stone. Which tells me she came from a wealthy family. Death hits everyone...rich or poor.
This was an outhouse for the caretaker way back when. I enhanced the color to what I thought the brick and paint looked like when new. it was actually very faded to a light, washed out red..
This was an accident! My flash failed as I was photographing the inside of the Boiler house. When i got home I realized I caught the light through the back window and out into the grave yard.
Looking outthe window of the boiler house. The boiler house was a smallbrick building with a huge bolier in it that had a massive pipe that led out to probably a church, meeting house and/ or caretaker house.
Boiler house, see the massive pipe? That tree grew right through it...tells you how old that house and pipe are. :
I hope you enjoyed my pics!
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Comments: 71
Thanks!
Thanks DN!
I have always been fascinated by cemeteries......and when I lived in Mississippi, I saw a ghost in one....
Roxanne....do tell!!! got any pics???
I lived in Canton, MS. Cemetery was right up the road and I was feeling nosy. (what else is new?) I was in the older section of the cemetery and was looking at the Confederate soldiers' section. I just felt sadness all around me....and when I glanced behind me, I saw a shadowy gray figure looking at the gravestone. You could almost hear his thoughts..."Why is my name on that stone? What happend to me? I was only 19....." The soldier disappeared quickly. It was starting to rain, so I said the 23rd Psalm in respect for the dead and went home. Sticks with me to this day....this happened about 10 years ago...
Jim, that sounds like a lovely idea..now adays you can also have your ashes mixed in cement and made into an artificial reef!
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I like to wander graveyards, myself. I really enjoyed the "Life's Recipe" stone; that was Cool !!
I don't know about the box that you tripped over. Gas light seems strange. My first suspicion was electrical, then water; but I can't make a very educated guess just from the picture. Is there an office or tender you could ask?
That old boiler building was interesting. What do you suppose they were heating?
This was cool. Thanks, Mandi.
Here on the hill I live on, around the corner and in the feild there is a patch of trees. In the trees there are 5 head stones that date back to the early 1800's I just wonder what that family was all about, what they did, how they died and what the land was back then. Interesting.
The one that sticks in my mind now is Life's Recipe. What a unique thought. Hmmm. Of course I will be buried next to my son but I know my soul will be joined with his. Cemeteries have stories to tell. I think it takes a special person to visit, clean, and "fix up" the stones as you have done. Thank you for sharing.
Blessings
Loved the Angel statue for the child, also 'Lifes Recipe'
was fascinating. That box may have been somebodys'
ashes maybe? I will be cremated my ashes to be strewn
up on the mountain I hiked with my loving friend.
Bill, the boiler house was used to heat the church 100 years ago which was used as the meeting house too...also the grave yard keeprs shack. The church and shack are gone now..only the boiler house and out house stand.
The Alice grave that I found was dated 1871....100 years before my birth! So that tree grew there after her death.
I feel the same way I am not going to be in a graveyard..
I am going to be cremated!
You did a great job..
Wonderful
10+++
Larry, funerals and grave yards are two different things...I don;t like funerals either....who does??
arlene,
Gig Harbor florist
My belief exactly. I also hope never to be buried in the earth, nor have a funeral. The hope/wish, that I have made know to any close to me (that's key), is that I be cremated as well (I don't wish to take up valuable space on the earth and have anyone feel obligated to visit or guilty that they don't). My ashes to be split, 1/2 to my son to be spread somewhere in the Detroit River from whence I came and that gave me such peace in my youth, and 1/2 to anyone that may be close to me in Arizona to spread under any Saguaro in the wild and not a transplant. Any one who wishes to have a beer or two and sing or play a few songs that I loved. That will most certainly do, anytime after that anyone remembers or speaks of me, that's quite enough legacy for me.
I'm also quite fascinated by very old graveyards, these pics were wonderful! When I went to Scotland between the sea, the fog, the sheer number of them around and the ages of the stones alone it seemed I spent most of the time photographing all of them I could, was thought to be quite strange, lol. Thanks for sharing these.
so much history in grave yards...as a kid I remember finding small graveyards out in the woods (Maine), the ones dating to the 1860s filled with small pox victims. While traveling I saw graves under the floors of 17th century churches in Panama. The dead were placed standing up to save room and the head stone was the actual stone floor pieces. In Prague, the old Jewish quarter was so crowded, the dead were literally laid on top of earlier burials. This was the days of the Jewish Ghettos and space was a preminum. And here in the US, finding tiny burial grounds in the woods while training, still maintained by the post though no one had been buried there in over a 100 years...
thanks all!
Reminds me of my Arts College days ...
had the one best ...yes serene place to go
fulfilling regular sketching needs !!!
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