Saturday, August 08, 2009

Hidden

On the way home from our field trip to the Philip Foster Farm last week, I took a tiny little detour to an old, old cemetery. Some of the earliest settlers to this area are buried here. People who share their last names with some of our "main" country roads. You wouldn't even know that their resting place was hidden back at the end of this gravel road, for there are no markers showing the way.


I can't explain why I have always been drawn to old cemeteries. Maybe it is the mystery surrounding those old names and dates.

Or the beautifully carved headstones.

My heart can hardly stand not knowing these people's stories... My imagination quickly steps up and fills in the gap between "Born" and "Died".

8 comments:

Natasha said...

I love old cemeteries as well. While I was growing up in Northern Ohio my grandpa and I would hike up to this old indian burial place and there were some gravestones from late 1700's early 1800's it was a really neat little hidden spot.
Thanks for sahring your pictures

Nancy said...

I like visiting old cemeteries too. We have one about five minutes from our house. The tombstones are so interesting in design, and some of them have some wonderful sayings.

Julie said...

I love old cemeteries as well, Beth. Outside of Nashville is a town called Franklin where The Battle of Franklin (Civil War) occurred and a very famous family (streets named after them here) housed wounded Confederate soldiers. This family wanted to honor them so badly that they formed one of the oldest and largest Conf. soldier cemeteries in the south. I've toured it twice and the family's home which was originally a plantation. It's an amazing place and so beautiful. People have weddings there too.

Heather said...

This has to be one of my favorite posts of yours, Beth! I thought that I was the only one who enjoyed walking through old cemetaries and imagining the lives and deaths of the deceased. I have been eyeballing a cemetary near here that I have wanted to walk through, but I haven't gone there yet.

Amy said...

Where is this Beth?

Jeanne said...

Awesome ! I just love old cemeteries. You should design a sampler using the motifs you saw.

Petra said...

Living in NJ there are some very old ones from before the Revolutionary War, it intrigues me every time I go through one.

Elaine Butler said...

It is (I think) the Foster Cemetery in Eagle Creek. Most of the Foster family and many of the early settlers and Oregon Trail travelers are buried here. Another of our recent guests took this lovely photo in another local cemetery: http://www.crossmarkdesign.com/photography/uploaded_images/_MG_1790-copy-719241.jpg. So many artistic visions to share!

Elaine Butler

Site Manager
www.philipfosterfarm.com