My stepdaughter from Oregon came and visited us for her father's birthday. One of the favorite things we like to do is to look around old/pioneer cemeteries located around our small town. The above photo is a sign describing where the founder, Gamaliel Wilder, was buried along with other veterans of the civil war.
Pictured above is the newer gravestone of the town's founder that the Historical Society put up because the original gravestone is now hardly visible.
We noticed that most of them died young, like 40's, 5o's, 60's, and a lot of children died after only a few days or months. That was why when we saw the gravestone pictured above, we were amazed that this guy lived to be 96 years old!!! We did the math, and that meant he was born in 1720! Click to enlarge and read the inscription, it is somewhat funny in a way. :) Try to notice the engraving too, crisp and sharp, it takes a lot of skills to do this by hand.
It is fascinating to realize how old this cemetery is... 1801! There are a lot of gravestones lying around that had fallen to the ground and are not even legible anymore. It is nice to know that the Historical Society is trying to save this cemetery. They cleared the bushes/trees that were crowding the place and put up a sign that says, "Founder's Cemetery" by the highway. There was one cemetery that we visited where it has overgrown trees and bushes and if one is not looking, nobody would even know that there is a cemetery somewhere in there... sad.
13 comments:
A funny epitaph indeed. And as you said, the letterings are still sharp, not damaged by the elements. Whoever did it must've done it painstakingly, unlike nowadays where we have machines to do those.
nance, thanks for sharing these pics with us. these are some of the many wonderful things that a historical old community has. newer cities miss out on those.
nin
hello,
sure we can exchange links, just add me up afte reading this..I've already added u up. Thanks for the visit and hey u do have a great articles here.
:)
dabaw,
you're added. welcome to my blog!
thanks for the compliment but yours is pretty impressive if i may say so.
cheerios!
Nice post nance, thanks for sharing. Sobrang luma na yet mukhang bago pa rin. malinaw pa ring nababasa ang naka-engrave. I'm sure those dead people were happy at nasa post sila hehe...ayt?
very interesting graveyards,Nance!really different from Japan`s cemeteries.and know what?i always feel goose bump whenever I pass by any cemeteries here,i dont know why.. :)
miss you too!
hugs,
ghee
mari,
isn't that though? ... must be this guy had a great sense of humor, probably one of the reasons why he lived long. :)
yeah, they do a very good job in the old days ... just look at the pyramid, amazing!
nin,
you are welcome my friend! and i agree w/you,... not only the cities missing out but also the x generation which is now a generation of technology. i still remember how fun it was to ride in a karetela or the carabao! lol
nona,
boy, nakalusot ka ulit! yay! malinaw pa nga, surprising, very skilled talaga yong gumawa. ay oo nga 'no? star sila sa blog ko! siguro sabi nila, "what is a blog?" :)
ghee,
i used to have goose bumps too pero nasanay na kasi we live only a few yards away from a cemetery. how are cemeteries in Japan? ... patong-patong yata to save room?
bigger hugs from here! :)
~nance~
Hi nance,
thanks for the visit again :).
Bumisita kami last week sa Williamsburg and I was amazed how they were able to preserve their history. I love the experience..
Just like what you posted here, bibihira ka ng makakita ng memoir from the past..
Hi Nance!
Taking a peek again at the person`s graveyard who were born in 1720!!
and imagine it still exists ano?very interesting!
ghee
Overall, this is an interesting post. Foods, travel, places are so common. blogging about a cemetery is different and unique - and even more considering the nature of this cemetery you had visited.
That writing in one of that graveyard stone is funny indeed. I wonder what humor will I write as well for my epitaph :)
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