GenMassachusetts-L Archives
Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 2005-06 > 1120065782
From:
Subject: Re: [GM-L] Back Yard Burials?
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 13:23:02 EDT
In a message dated 6/29/05 12:30:16 PM, writes:
> Portland Maine has British officers from the Revolution buried in Eastern
> Cemetery next to Colonial officers.
>
That is true, but the oldest gravesites in Eastern Cemetery were used to fill
Clay Cove and there were no reburials. In colonial times many towns had no
stonecutters and wooden markers were used and they have long since
disappeared. Many graves are completely lost and in some cases whole cemeteries. The
first Falmouth, ME, church yard is one of those.
Changing attitudes toward death and burial are a study in its own right.
Note that the older stones often have a skull and the skull gradually changes to
a cherub and then turns up as a willow tree, and now we have photographs as
we sanitize the process of dying.
Abby
This thread: