Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

February 6, 2018

Old Town Cemeteries

 We were in Sandwich the other day and had some time to kill between appointments so my trusty chauffeur took me around to take pics.  He is usually pretty creeped out by cemeteries but I love them, so I was surprised he said he'd take a walk through the super old one on Shawme Pond, where many of the town founding families are buried. 

Most of the graves date to the 1700s and 1800s.  The really old ones, from the late 1600s are worn too much to read.  The most recent year of death I saw was 1924.



Lichen and moss are doing a number on the fragile stones.


It was late afternoon and a perfect time to take a stroll.  So quiet.




First Church of Christ



Shawme Pond







The old stone art is beautiful.  Gravestone rubbings are illegal here.

This is at the Catholic cemetery, St. Peter's.  This section is called 'Crucifixion' and my dad, cousins, aunt and uncle are buried directly behind it. 

Every now and then you'll see these super sad children's stones.

I wonder what happened to her?

Looking at the Round Barn at Heritage Plantation.

14 comments:

  1. what a lovely stroll and the history in cemeteries is fascinating. Daytime is fine. Would not want to wander at night.

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    1. My friends live next to a cemetery that we'd play in at night sometimes, unless of course we managed to scare ourselves. haha

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  2. I'm not much into cemeteries, but I love your shots as usual. Sad to see graves of such youngsters. There is a grave in Beaufort NC of a soldier who was buried standing up - still on guard.

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    1. Thanks Jo! I love old cemeteries but Russell doesn't. I wouldn't mind living next door to one. At least it'd be quiet.

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  3. I am fascinated and creeped by cemeteries

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    1. I just love going through the old ones...I could shoot hundreds of pics in each one (and I have).

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  4. Last year, my son had a project to go to the oldest cemetery, and to find out answer of the few question. :)

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    1. Wow! Your son would love to take a look through the old ones here!

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  5. Anonymous7:51 PM

    There's something special about old cemeteries. I feel like they took my time and put more effort into the tombstones. Maybe that's just me?

    Elsie

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    1. The art and lettering is really cool, esp considering they didn't have electric grinding and carving tools like now. It was all done by hand.

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  6. It looks a bit like our local cemetery. I'm kinda creeped out too and prefer the nature (only) photos.

    Hope all's going well, JoJo.

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  7. I love cemeteries too. No matter how hot it is you can go into a cemetery and it will be cool. Always. - The kids' graves are sad but you have to look at the years. There were so many "epidemics" during that time. Those kids more than likely died from something we get shots for now. :(

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    1. That's so true. I remember being in a cemetery in Mariposa, CA (gold country, near Yosemite) and being struck by seeing the same year of death on so many stones. What I do find surprising at the stones here, many people lived well into their 70s. You always hear that people died young in the 1700s but that doesn't seem to be true.

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