Monday, September 30, 2013

Cemetery Finds...Digital Photographs

One of the most unusual headstones I have seen.

Close up of the babies face.

The setting is like out of a movie with the swamp behind it.

Here in the South we know how to honor the dead. Whether it be a small country graveyard, a private cemetery, or a big city cemetery. Our dead are sacred.

I developed a love of cemeteries in high school. I dated a boy who lived next door to one. We would often hang out there as teenagers do like to "hang out". This particular cemetery had Anne Morrow buried in it. Her story was so sad[she was Charles Lindbergh's wife and her son was kidnapped and killed]. My boyfriend gave me a book of her poems and I would sit in the cemetery and read them. Oh, to be young and innocent.

Once I was done reading the poems I actually looked around and realized there were a lot of different headstones. Some were shaped like trees, some had little lambs on them, others were obelisk shaped, or had different things carve on them. I had to know what they meant. So, a life long interest was started. You can tell a lot about a community by their cemeteries.

This incredible monument to a lost daughter can be found in Magnolia Green Cemetery in Charleston South Carolina. They have a beautiful cemetery with old Magnolias and Oaks dripping in Spanish Moss. Quite the mood setter. I have never seen so many unusual gravestones, headstones, monuments to the dead. Each one trying to over power the next.

I really enjoyed this cemetery. I hope to go back and take more pictures. Until then I leave you with these photographs.

3 comments:

Janet Ghio said...

I love all the old statues and headstones in cemetaries--so many interesting ones and stories to wonder about. This is certainly an unusual one!

Ann said...

It is a true Southern tradition to honor the dead.
i think the South has some of the most "beautiful" cemeteries.

indybev said...

I share your love of old cemeteries. When working on my genealogy, I came to an old pioneer cemetery where my 5th great grandfather was buried, along with his brother and family members. I noticed his brother's monument seemed to have an epitaph, half buried with grass. I brushed away the debris so I could it, only to read this cheerful message:
"Think of me as you pass by.
For you, too, shall surely die"! I think the old boy must've had quite a sense of humor!