So still haven't had the chance to really go out and enjoy the Cemeteries since classes and work have been keeping me from doing so. Though 60 degree weather is the most ideal to go cemetery hunting. I have tried very hard to obtain that Cemeterty Trustee position but with no sucess. I guess my town hasn't had a Trustee since the 70s and they seem to be doing ok without them still. Which makes me sad cause our town's cemeteries are so unkept. Come on we have a Declaration Signer in one of our cemeteries and no one cares! Thats national history! But it seems for me to accomplish anything I need to be apart of the non-existant Historical Society and Parks and Recration.
I have a friend of FaceBook who is as passionate about Cemeteries as I am and has inspired me to try to reach as many cemeteries as I can since the photos he posts on FaceBook are amazing! So I have decided to go to every single cemetery in New Hampshire and either take lots and lots of pictures and/or writes down all their names since no one has seemed to do that. What wil help me is that I have to take a summer class at Durham for the month of July so I think I will be able to hit all the cemeteries in that area with no problem. Will be posting of my advancements in this project...
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
To whom it may concern (or care),
I feel like I have been disloyal to anyone who was expecting an exciting blog about cemetery information. The truth is at first I only wanted to write what was best and educated sounding; and that my friends, is not how to run a blog. So I will start by telling you the information I do find and the cemeteries I do visit.
So today's adventures had started when I had time to kill. As I was driving trying to think of a way to kill that time I had remembered seeing a cemetery tucked up in a hill in southern Manchester, conviently on my way toward my destnation. After much difficulty in finding the right road, tackling a monster frost heave, pulling into a somewhat small parkinglot, deciphering where the graveyard's location was, and finding the sign which read in big white leters "Moore Cemetery" I had finally arrived. As you probably already know that older cemeteries will have stones are broken in half and the tip lay next to the base, well this was what I saw but at every headstone. To make it worse most of the stones were unreadable! The writing I could understand very little since having the acid rain and the elements take its toll. The earliest stone I could indentify was from 1824. Not only were stones in half and unreadable but boughs of trees were scattered all over the patch, making it seem like the cemetery hadn't been taken care of in a long time.
Later on in the aftrnoon, I kept thinking of what I could do to help restore these coloniel burial grounds. I decided while hanging at my boyfriend's house to look up different organizations who help unkept graveyards. Sadly I could find non that were still opperating. One thing that I did find most interesting was a government position which one of the main duties is to arouse awareness and restore older cemeteries. The job is called a "Cemetery Trustee". After reading all the requirements for the job, I am considering running for Cemetery Trustee in my local town. I am way to pasionate to be letting these graveyard's and it's inhabitants' names go to ruin because nobody cares about graveyards.
Hopefully you do read this entry and support me in my efforts.....if you have any stories or findings on cemeteries in your area, comment; I would love to know I'm not the only one who is in the fight to save our hisory!
I feel like I have been disloyal to anyone who was expecting an exciting blog about cemetery information. The truth is at first I only wanted to write what was best and educated sounding; and that my friends, is not how to run a blog. So I will start by telling you the information I do find and the cemeteries I do visit.
So today's adventures had started when I had time to kill. As I was driving trying to think of a way to kill that time I had remembered seeing a cemetery tucked up in a hill in southern Manchester, conviently on my way toward my destnation. After much difficulty in finding the right road, tackling a monster frost heave, pulling into a somewhat small parkinglot, deciphering where the graveyard's location was, and finding the sign which read in big white leters "Moore Cemetery" I had finally arrived. As you probably already know that older cemeteries will have stones are broken in half and the tip lay next to the base, well this was what I saw but at every headstone. To make it worse most of the stones were unreadable! The writing I could understand very little since having the acid rain and the elements take its toll. The earliest stone I could indentify was from 1824. Not only were stones in half and unreadable but boughs of trees were scattered all over the patch, making it seem like the cemetery hadn't been taken care of in a long time.
Later on in the aftrnoon, I kept thinking of what I could do to help restore these coloniel burial grounds. I decided while hanging at my boyfriend's house to look up different organizations who help unkept graveyards. Sadly I could find non that were still opperating. One thing that I did find most interesting was a government position which one of the main duties is to arouse awareness and restore older cemeteries. The job is called a "Cemetery Trustee". After reading all the requirements for the job, I am considering running for Cemetery Trustee in my local town. I am way to pasionate to be letting these graveyard's and it's inhabitants' names go to ruin because nobody cares about graveyards.
Hopefully you do read this entry and support me in my efforts.....if you have any stories or findings on cemeteries in your area, comment; I would love to know I'm not the only one who is in the fight to save our hisory!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Let Me Start from the Begining
One of the graveyards I most visit is the one my Grandfather was laid to rest in. This is where my fascination of visiting such places started 4 years ago. Granted I wasn't able to drive before then, but it was then I was developing interests.
Something about graveyards is fascinating. The couple of things I think about is like why is their a graveyard right in this location? What has this graveyards seen over the ages? What have people lying in the graveyard experienced in their lifetime? What events caused them to turn to the grave? Sure most people don't think about that kind of thing. But with a liking for history, this helps me get a kickstart and allows me a lead to research. One graveyard that historically has caught my intrest is Valley Street Cemetary in Manchester, NH. I will speak about it later, but that cemetary has war vetrens, epidemic victims, mausoleums, and murders, not to mention that the cemetary used to like 20 acres big and victorian people would picnic there.
Each post will hopefully contain a brief history of the cemetary, its inhabitants, pictures, etc. Some posts will hold findings or symbolism that I finally figured out. I hope you will enjoy the history, workmanship, and the stories that come with graveyards.
Something about graveyards is fascinating. The couple of things I think about is like why is their a graveyard right in this location? What has this graveyards seen over the ages? What have people lying in the graveyard experienced in their lifetime? What events caused them to turn to the grave? Sure most people don't think about that kind of thing. But with a liking for history, this helps me get a kickstart and allows me a lead to research. One graveyard that historically has caught my intrest is Valley Street Cemetary in Manchester, NH. I will speak about it later, but that cemetary has war vetrens, epidemic victims, mausoleums, and murders, not to mention that the cemetary used to like 20 acres big and victorian people would picnic there.
Each post will hopefully contain a brief history of the cemetary, its inhabitants, pictures, etc. Some posts will hold findings or symbolism that I finally figured out. I hope you will enjoy the history, workmanship, and the stories that come with graveyards.
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