deja vu

 

The church Nuestra Senora de los Dolores in Manzano, founded 1824, has a scattering of graves in the churchyard including these twin iron angels.  The Salt Missions Trail makes an interesting day trip.

 

Manzano, New Mexico

guns and babies

 

You have to wonder about the planning (or lack thereof) that positioned the military portion of the cemetery adjacent to Babyland. 

 

Masonic Cemetery

Trinidad, Colorado

8.20.2016



allured to brighter worlds

 

Of course I visited the Bonaventure Cemetery when I was in Savannah in April (and yes, the statue from the "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" has been relocated to the Telfair Museum of Art).  However, the marker for Corinne Elliot Lawton is a haunting example of Southern Gothic.  Corinne died in 1877 and the story goes she drowned herself in the nearby river rather than marry a man other than the one she loved -- although her obituary cited a brief illness.  This marble memorial by Palermo and Corinne's legendary love story generate much interest.

 

 

 

Bonaventure Cemetery

Savannah, Georgia

4.20.2016

rest in peace

 

While looking for something else I came across this old photograph.  This is from what was probably the only roll of black and white film I ever shot!  It was for a class and was shot with my first SLR - a Pentax K1000. Many photo ops were available when I lived in Jacksonville, Alabama.  As you can tell, my interest in old cemeteries is long-standing.  The City Cemetery in Jacksonville is old, with many Confederate war veterans.  This lone gravestone for a child is sad - but at least it's sheltered by the ancient oak.

 

Jacksonville, Alabama

1984

twin spires

 

Throughout the IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) Cemetery, a handful of Spanish Colonial style mini-cathedrals mark gravesites.  More traditional markers, including Woodman of the World, fill the cemetery.  This Plainview Cemetery's oldest burial is the town founder in about 1880.  In this century, the cemetery received a Texas Historic Cemetery designation.  The utility poles replicate the skyward-bound twin spires.

 

IOOF Cemetery

Plainview, Texas

2.27.2016

curb appeal

 

Most homes don't have the curb appeal of the Powell family crypt located in the Mountain View Cemetery.  The effect is definitely castle gothic. The lane with the crypts where Powell is interred is across the way from the monuments known as Millionaires Row.  He must be just on Rich Man's Row.

 



 

Mountain View Cemetery

Oakland, California

1.18.2015

souls lost to time

 

Perched on the edge of the Caprock just east of Crosbyton, the Mt. Zion Cemetery is testament to the black population of the community.  The Mt. Zion Church, an African-American church built in 1924, established the cemetery which was in use until the 1970s.   It then lay neglected for many years and history was lost.  A Boy Scout Eagle project repaired the cemetery and "ditching" led to finding graves.  Today those unidentified graves are marked by simple white iron crosses. 

 

Mt. Zion Cemetery

Crosby County, Texas

buried on the lone prairie
 

The intersection of Farm Road 298 and washed out County Road 123 marks the final resting place of some 65 souls who lived at Baileyboro.  Only a few markers stand visible above the prairie grass to catch the eye.  One must walk the cemetery to feel the desolation of the place.  Only a few graves remain to mark a one-time community on the plains.  Times must have been hard.  It was sad to note the number of children's gravesites. 

 



 

G. D. French buried two infant sons at Baileyboro and marked the places with hand-chiseled rocks.  The family must have moved on because there are no other French family members buried there.  The boys were gone but not forgotten because nearby are two modern headstones simply inscribed "Baby Boy French" and the dates 1924 and 1931.

 

 

Scattered among the old tombstones and unmarked graves are newer stones placed to remember loved ones.  There was a burial as late as 20 years ago.  Even if the town no longer exists, it was still home.

Baileyboro Cemetery
Bailey County, Texas
8.29.2015



 



 

 

 

May God shelter your soul,

kind love, and sympathy.

 

New Braunfels Cemetery

Peace Avenue

New Braunfels, Texas

5.1.2015

all projects completed

 

I would be pleased to have this as my epitaph:  "All projects completed."  Elle is probably satisfied that everything on her "to do" list was accomplished.

 

St. Francis Cemetery

San Juan Island, Washington

4.3.2015



St. Mary's Nativity

 

One of the frustrating things about traveling on business is having to take mental snapshots rather than actual photographs.  On a dreary drive to Nicholls State University to set up for class, I barely had enough time to pull through this cemetery and take a few images-- standing outside the car in the drizzle.  I would love to go back on a more leisurely day.  This cemetery was established circa 1797 - even before the parish church.  Because of the marshy land and high water table,  bodies and caskets would float if buried underground.  French immigrants adopted a European entombment practice by using above ground crypts.  I wish I'd had more time to stop at these community cemeteries.

 

St. Mary's Nativity Cemetery

Raceland, Louisiana

Lafourche Parish

2.25.2015



our hero

 

Amidst the uniform lines of upright headstones, this large red rock stands out.  It marks the final resting place of Willis Waymon Green, a WWII veteran.  The federal government furnishes, at no cost, markers for deceased veterans at any cemetery.  Wonder why Willis has a rock?  Admittedly it befits the landscape of this plot of land off the Llano Estacado.  He was a decorated serviceman, serving in the European Campaign and Africa and earning 5 Bronze Stars, the Oak Leaf Cluster and a Purple Heart -- according to this epitaph.  Rest in peace - this Bud's for you.

 

Fluvanna Cemetery

Fluvanna, Texas

Junction of Farm Roads 612, 1267, and 2350

2.20.2015



asleep in jesus

Today's cemetery tour included Grassland, Fluvanna and Dermott -- surely you've heard of those places.  Dermott, on US 84 in Scurry County, was a railroad town.  Pete McDermott donated the land for the town and established a store.  A post office was granted in 1902 (which existed until 1990 and is now a weathered pile of lumber - don't you wish you would have stopped on all those trips to Dallas to take a photograph!). Dermott was originally called "Dark" (hmm, about the same time not many miles west was a town called "Light")

 

The land for the Bookout Cemetery and School was donated by Mary Ellen Boase Scrivner, member of a founding family.  There is no mention of where the name "Bookout" originated -- and there's not a single Bookout buried there.  As you travel the dirt road, be on the watch out for the cemetery trees so you'll know where to turn.  There are contemporary graves as well as historic.  The Prather family plot is the only one with the cast iron fence typical of the time.  Rankin's stone is adorned with oak leaves, which symbolize long life--which is ironic since he died June 13, 1920 -- a week before his 30th birthday.

Bookout Cemetery (aka Dermott Cemetery)
Dermott, Texas
US Highway 84

bury me on the lone prairie

 

Some leave floral tributes but these young cowboys are honored with ropes.  Each June since about 1904 family members gather at Red Mud Cemetery for the annual cleaning.  The ropes appear recently and reverently placed.  Until 1990s there was also a tabernacle for "dinner on the grounds." In early times there were a number of large elm trees that provided shade. It was a real work morning, hoeing and repairing graves. A huge lunch followed, spread on makeshift tables. After lunch there would be a variety of entertainment; group singing, quartets, duets, and solos The elms trees are gone and a pole arbor replaces the building.  The first burial here, originally known as Tap Cemetery, was a homesteader who was shot over a horse in April 1886.  His wife died of tuberculosis a few months later and was buried beside on the home place..  Located about 11 miles southwest of Spur, one approaches the cemetery across a cattle guard and a few miles along a red dust road.  Good thing the weather was dry, or the road probably would have be "red mud" just like the so-named Little Red Mud Creek nearby.

 

Red Mud Cemetery

Dickens County, Texas

8.16.2014

wow

 

What? You don't think this building in Hale Center has that wow factor?  It is the home of Woodmen of the World, a "fraternal benefit society." Founded in in 1890 in  by Joseph Cullen Root after hearing a sermon about "pioneer woodsmen clearing away the forest to provide for their families". Root wanted to start a Society that "would clear away problems of financial security for its members." Today WOW offers life insurance and annuities to its members.  The organization may be best known for its tombstones.  Surely in your excursions through cemeteries you've noticed those grave markers that look like tree trunks.  Early WOW life insurance policies included a free tombstone.  That practice was discontinued in the 1920s primarily due to cost; however, the society ensures that "no Woodmen shall rest in an unmarked grave."  WOW marker design was a four to five foot high tree trunk monument and included symbols like axes, wedges and other types of tools used in woodworking.  Doves were also popular motifs.

 





Floydada Cemetery

 

 

Woodmen of the World

121 W. Stevenson

Hale Center, Texas

5.16.2014

 

"budded on earth to bloom in heaven"

 

Young Joseph is buried in the Estacado Cemetery. The cemetery, started by the 1879 settlers, is one of the first on the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains.  This child's gravesite is marked by a cast concrete stone with a bas relief lamb.  Early  2oth century tombstones have a variety of engravings and sculptures as symbols marking the life or passage of a deceased loved one. Baby lambs represent a lost child and innocence.  What's more remarkable about Joseph's site is the presence of irises.   "White cemetery iris" are found throughout rural cemeteries.  These flowers survive--considering lack of water and attention.  We've been in drought conditions for three years and this winter has had snow and freezing weather yet there is still a touch of green in this clump of iris.  They probably weren't planted by Joseph's mother in 1912 but by the beautification committee in 1939 when the land was deeded to the cemetery association.

Estacado Cemetery

Crosby County, Texas

2.1.2014