For those of you who have arrived to the site today from the Association for Gravestone Studies e-Newsletter, greetings! Feel free to read through the blog, and leave feedback. I have been an AGSer for several years now. If you have similar cemetery blogs or websites, please share them! Enjoy,– Mary Continue reading Welcome, AGSers!!
On the way home from DC, we stopped today at Gettysburg. Despite my love of American history and knowledge of the battles and details, I was not prepared for the sheer vastness of Gettysburg. Endless fields, and endless room for the imagination. The National Cemetery at Gettysburg was created in efforts to bury the dead from the Battle of Gettysburg. A quick look at Wikipedia lists the casualties as such:Union: 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded, 5,369 captured/missing)Confederate: 22,231 (4,708 killed, 12,693 wounded, 5,830 captured/missing)These numbers are unbelievable… the battle lasted 3 days from July 1-3, 1863, and was the bloodiest … Continue reading Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Of all the things to do in Washington DC, one of the places I was excited to visit was Arlington National Cemetery. Although it was incredibly hot, the trip was extremely worthwhile. There is a great deal of parking, and pedestrian traffic is led through the Visitor’s Center at the beginning of the cemetery, which has a little gift shop, an information center, and an exhibit that features large photographs of significant moments in the cemetery’s history, along with explanatory text. The photos themselves are very overwhelming, but they barely come close to capturing the actual experience of stepping outside … Continue reading Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
This week we are in Washington DC on vacation! While this technically doesn’t count as a cemetery, this memorial along the Mall was of interest to me because a few years ago I met Nick Benson, stone carver from the John Stevens Shop in Newport, RI. The John Stevens Shop has been in operation since 1705, and numerous articles and gravestone afficiandos have detailed stones in Newport – and much farther! – made from the shop. Today the shop is under the direction of Nick Benson, and the shop still handcarves lettering on stones. During a course at Brown University, … Continue reading National World War II Memorial, Washington D.C.
This article comes via the sharp eyes of Margo, who is keeping watch of all New England cemeteries while I am on vacation in Washington DC!! Erosion is endangering some 50 graves along the Green River, most of which are from the 1800s. The trouble is now to figure out just how exactly to undertake such a large project both safely and sensitively. Of note, a 40-foot obelisk belonging to William Washburn and his family has fallen to the ground. Washburn was Massachusetts’ Republican governor from 1872 to 1874. Let’s hope it all goes safely! Continue reading Green River Cemetery, Greenfield, MA
On the way home from the YMCA Jubee and I stopped by St. Mary’s Cemetery in Middleboro. The cemetery is owned by Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Middleboro. There’s a tidy history of the church and cemetery here. The cemetery is fairly large and is filled with modern stones, there is a great deal of large granite squares with surnames on the front and smaller individual names and dates etched on the back or on smaller flush stones nearby. The middle of the cemetery is dominated by a large statue of Jesus: As a Catholic cemetery, religious symbology is found … Continue reading St. Mary’s Cemetery, Middleboro, MA
Recently I was a bit disturbed to hear on the radio that a body had been discovered by someone on their lunch break, close to where I work. The radio proclaimed that a murder investigation was underway – but it became quickly apparent that there was no need. The body was just one of many that were once part of a pauper cemetery in Cranston that had been forgotten, and largely paved over by Route 37. The full article is here. They uncovered several remains, but estimate that hundreds – perhaps more than a thousand – are buried in the … Continue reading “Forgotten” Cemeteries
