I've always been drawn to old cemeteries.
They seem so forgotten. Very few fresh flowers or flags, any evidence that someone who still walks this earth remembers...
But they're saturated with history. Most of these graves date back over a century.
Yesterday I walked through the old cemetery alone, looking for answers.
How did mothers in the 1800's deal with the loss of a child? It looks like a common situation back in those days. Did they just accept it gracefully as a fact of life? Par for the course? Did they scream and cry? Did they feel deserted by God?
Can you almost see the divots this mother's knees left in front of her babies' headstones? The flowers she put on the cold marble every year, every season? Did she accept her burden better than I am?
The cemetery remains peacefully secretive. And I rejoice for those mothers who have joined with their babies in heaven.
I've always been drawn to old cemeteries. 
They seem so forgotten. Very few fresh flowers or flags, any evidence that someone who still walks this earth remembers...
But they're saturated with history. Most of these graves date back over a century. 
Yesterday I walked through the old cemetery alone, looking for answers.
How did mothers in the 1800's deal with the loss of a child? It looks like a common situation back in those days. Did they just accept it gracefully as a fact of life? Par for the course? Did they scream and cry? Did they feel deserted by God?
Can you almost see the divots this mother's knees left in front of her babies' headstones? The flowers she put on the cold marble every year, every season? Did she accept her burden better than I am?
The cemetery remains peacefully secretive. And I rejoice for those mothers who have joined with their babies in heaven.
Jessica is buried in a cemetary that has been in use since before the Civil War. Over the last 24 yrs, I have often walked through the old part, reading the names/dates on the old stones. MANY of those stones show that BOTH mother & infant share the same death dates. The practice of medicine has come a long way.
ReplyDeleteJessica is actually in an older section of the cemetary, we buried her in a vacant family plot next to Ty's gr-parents. There is a very old, 3"x5" stone next to her that simply says, "Infant Parsons."
On a side note...old cemetaries can be fascinating. Once we took butcher paper out to one of our visits to Jessica's grave & I had the girls go to the old part, pick a stone, do a rubbing of it & come back home & write a fictional story about that person.
Blessings, Kim<><
Have you been to the old Knoop Farm that is now the main office of the Miami County Parks? They have a beautiful old family cemetary. I believe the Knoops were one of the first, if not the first family settled in the county. You should check it out.
ReplyDeleteThe cemetery where Carleigh is buried has some old stones. One day Kyndra and I walked around and just looked at them all. I counted at least 24 stones of children 2 and under (both new and old). I kinda wonder too how it was back then.
ReplyDeletebeautiful pictures! I can't imagine that those women would have delt with their pain in any other way.
ReplyDeleteHope your day is going well.
baby loss was beyond taboo back then. You were almost told not to have another child if you lost a child back then. What times we live in now.
ReplyDeleteold cemeteries are both beautiful and tragic. they way they mix history and family and faith and grief is absolutely breathtaking.
ReplyDelete