Lonely graves

[furtech]

The state of Indiana has an interesting policy on graves: they are protected and, when possible, restored. The history of Indiana involved a lot of small family farms and homesteads. A churchyard burial was not always possible; some churches disappeared and their graveyards were lost in the underbrush. When a gravestone is discovered, the state (I'm sure there's some department for it) will investigate, then work to make sure the site is respected (a lot of them are in the middle of vast cornfields).



Jim knew I was interested in local history and one a trip home, stopped to let me look at this small graveyard. This one had been rediscovered and renovated, with new fencing. The graves vary in condition and detail. Many of them fell over the years and broke, while anything made of wood just disappeared.



You can tell a lot about the person interred by the marker: the wealthy had large stones with names and descriptions of their circumstance.



Some are touching in their brief description; I'm sure that the locals knew who they were, but now their identities are lost in time:



This one caught my eye because of its size -- maybe 5"X6" visible -- but also because of the near-anonymity of the very brief identification.



I find it sad that most of these people are forgotten. At least these graves are in a small cemetary (probably once a churchyard). The really lonely ones are those out in the middle of the tilled fields or buried in the brush of woods.

While these graves create a somewhat meloncholy tone, at the other end of the scale a pet cemetary: I have never felt so moved (or disturbed) at the inscriptions I found at the Pet Memorial Park in Los Angeles last March . These markers are heart-wrenching. And nothing beats this gravestone for "unresolved issues"....

Comments

[sewinggoddess.livejournal.com]

i should take pics of the pet cemetary my kitty Mr Hobbes is buried in... it is the most tranquil, beautiful place I know... there is just so much love in it. It is heartbreaking & heartwarming all in one.

My grandmother is buried in a cemetary in rural Illinois (along with many generations of my father's family), the long, skinny cemetary is flanked on both sides by endless corn fields. it is a bizarre oasis with giant oak trees & cool breezes during the summer.

you made me realize how much I enjoy cemetaries... history & contemplation all in one.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are fascinating-- a snapshot of any society. Modern markers tend to lack the personalization of the older ones (except in pet cemetaries!).

There was a lone grave in the huge field across the street of this home, about four-hundred yards out in the middle of this field.

[lacy.livejournal.com]

Exploring old cemeteries can be a very rewarding experience; they're always very interesting and, at times, insightful places.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Next time I'm out there I may take a tour of the markers that my friends know of. Fascinating stuff.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

There may be some geneological resources where these forgotten people are remembered... but still, it is probably a gargantuan task.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I think if someone -really- wanted to discover their identities, they could. Lack of curiosity, I guess. There's the foundation of an old cabin on this property and my friends were able to find out who lived there by talking to neighbors who were still alive when the cabin stood.

[crocuta.livejournal.com]

At the back of my property back home there is a cemetary, the gnarled tree that held the church bell that was the last remaining remnant of the community was long since cut down by loggers and nothing remains to show that there was habitation there except for the handfull of gravestones. The woods have swallowed them back up and before I left I tried to mark out the boundaries and if I ever get back home for any time I want to fence it off so they wont' drive the logging vehicles through it anymore when next they log their half (half sits on our property and half on Inernational Paper property). They probably didn't even know it was there. Most of the folks that knew what was what and where things were back in that era (towns, roads etc) and by era I mean turn of the century on to the late 30s are long since gone but luckly the old farmer who lived near us told my mom most everything about the area before he died. Oral history is still very common in those parts of the nation. Now I know the town was named 'Crossroads' and I know where the wagon trails went, where they crossed the creeks and such.. you can follow them to locations and find more cemetaries that told of other groupings of houses and townships that are long since erased off the maps. I have tons of cemetary photographs from AR, LA, TX and MO.. it's a wonderful hobby and for me, quite interesting. (sorry for the long comment but it's a subject that really peaks my curiosity.. old cemetaries and the forgotten history of a country as young as ours).

[crocuta.livejournal.com]

PS thank you for posting the pics! I really really enjoyed them!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed the pics. Neat story about the graveyard on your family's property back east: does that state have any regulations/laws regarding abandoned cemetaries? You might want to look into it: they may have similar laws where the state will fund their restoration and fence them off.

Definitely do an oral history with your mom to get the information she has about the graveyard and similar information!