If you are viewing this page I probably don’t need to make apologies for my fascination with the unexpected beauty that can often be found in cemeteries. Perhaps not in the modern sterile-looking cemeteries that look as if they were groomed with your mother’s best sewing scissors, but the old, hidden, often forgotten pioneer cemeteries. I find them to be a place of quiet inspiration for many reasons.
For many years, I used watched my mother-in-law pack her wash pail and scrub brush to take to the cemetery for the annual scrubbing of family headstones. She never missed this ceremonious occasion on Memorial Day for the 35 years I knew her before her death. Keeping the headstones clean and free off moss and algae was a labor of love for her. It was her way of paying her respects to family who passed on before her.
This is one family tradition that is difficult for me to adopt. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than old stone that has been lovingly aged by nature. Pits formed by years of exposure to wind and rain, giving foothold to mosses that softly blanket the hard stone in color, and the algae competing for first place in wearin’ o’ the green. Does beauty fade over time, or does it become more alive with character? I say it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
Although it seems early in the year to be thinking about starting new Halloween props, it seems time moves faster than greased lightening in my life.I will be posting pictures of cemetery art over the months to come as a source of ideas for those new headstones you need to make for your home haunt next year. This outstanding example of cemetery can be found on a grave in Bruton Parish Churchyard in Colonial Williamsburg, VA. I hope you find it inspirational.
