Good ole @mitz said "@gen_freak That sounds like a day to get out of the house and do some grave yard hunting." What a great idea! I remembered that there were a couple of photo requests on Find A Grave at a cemetery in this area.
According to Find A Grave the Upton Cemetery was about 5 miles from my zip code just off the highway. So I grab my camera and jump in the car and head down the highway. (That sounds like a song.)
I drove down the highway all the way through town and didn't see one cemetery! So I turned around and came back through. I stopped at two different convenient stores and a funeral home and no one knew where this cemetery was. I know, can you believe that a funeral home did not know where a local cemetery was?!
Finally I stopped at the IGA and asked someone in there. They said the only cemetery they knew of was right across the street behind the barbershop. So I head across the street and there I see right along the barbershop is a little narrow street disguised as a parking lot. The cemetery was on Lima Street, 3 miles from my house!
So I drive down this narrow little driveway called Lima Street until I saw a gate and a big field behind it -- this was a cemetery -- I wanted to cry.
Piney Grove Cemetery |
I took a photo of the second thing I saw that made me sad (the first being the condition of the cemetery).
These four unmarked headstones. One is being pushed out by a tree root and the two in the back are crowded with weeds and tree overgrowth.
Then there was this unique little grave marker.
After I left I found out that the Upton cemetery I was looking for was a small family plot right smack dab in the middle of this bigger cemetery called Piney Grove.
Upton Cemetery |
Next time I will go in more prepared, with a squirt bottle and whatnot. Seriously thinking about packing a rake.
Despite the sad condition of the cemetery, I think your photos are beautiful. I especially like the last photo -- it's wall-worthy! It is so sad to see the small cemeteries deteriorate and go uncared for. This one looks like it was once a very beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are great Leslie! I just saw a headstone with solar lights on it the other day and I had to stop and stare because I had never seen one before.
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