Epitaph

Cemeteries are unique places in our lives. Some are beautiful, some are historic, and some are even entertaining. There is a quiet sadness about all cemeteries because they are the final resting places of our loved ones. We intend to post pictures here of cemeteries and head stones that are original photographs. We are looking for beauty, dignity, funny and above all something interesting. Feel free to comment and to contribute. We will provide a mail box if you want to contribute.




Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Another view from I-84

This second cemetery visible from I-84 is the Quinnipiac Cemetery in Southington Connecticut.  This is a very unusual cemetery in many ways, but it dates back to the 1770's.  It is not only very old, but laid out in a very strange way.  There are 5 access roads from the street and two of them are gated closed.  Movement inside the cemetery by car is quite difficult because there are almost no internal road turns.  Some of the monuments were quite interesting.
Though it is difficult you can just see the highway (I-84) to the right and in the background. Notice the name on the stone, Frisbie. Could this person be related to the toy manufactures (which is actually named after a New Haven pie maker, I think.)

 At about this point as I was walking through the cemetery taking pictures, I was attacked by swarms of biting insects!  I ran for the car and consequently all the following pictures were actually taken from the car window.  Surprisingly, I was able to leave the car window open without any problem.
These were two rather unique stones that caught my eye.

This lovely monument with a stone urn was very tall.  There was also a nice old tree next to it.

As usual in old cemeteries there were a number of Civil War Veterans, buried there.  This is quite normal, but I was in for a real surprise when I went to the very back of the cemetery.
There was a whole section of the cemetery devoted to War Veterans and there were a great many Civil War veterans memorialized there.  I say memorialized, because some of the stones marked veterans whose bodies were actually buried near the battle fields where they died. This soldier died at Chancellorsville.
The large stone commemorates the section of this cemetery to burial and memorializing the dead of our wars.
This stone caps it all off for me.  This William Kelley died at Cold Harbor.  After Grant took control over the Union Army he pressed the Confederate forces.  Grant pulled troops who had been protecting the Nations Capitol into the offensive battles.  The Connecticut heavy Artillery company had been one of those units which were pulled from Washington, D.C.  There were many many casualties from Connecticut at Cold Harbor.  General Grant later stated that he regretted his attack at Cold Harbor.  Regret or not Grant and his Army were able to wear down the Confederates to win the Civil War. This stone is a piece of history!

Monday, August 9, 2010

View from Interstate 84

I drive on Interstate 84 almost daily.  I drive by two cemeteries that are at least partially visible from this heavily trafficked highway.  I have long wanted to stop and take some photo in them.  I finally got a chance and was able to photograph both of them in the same day.  One of the Cemeteries is called the Quinnipiac Cemetery and is located in Southington, CT.  It dates from the 1770's and I will do a whole post on what I found there.
This is a small sample showing some of the obelisk stones and the older rather plane stones from the 1700's and 1800's. There will be more from this cemetery.  There is something special hidden back within this sacred place.

The second Cemetery is a roman Catholic cemetery just off I84 in Waterbury, CT, named St. Joseph's Cemetery. I see the above stone from the highway almost daily.  The rest of the pictures will be from St. Joseph's Cemetery which had some very attractive monuments.
The cemetery is on a hill and these monuments were very tall and on this rather steep hill.  Below is a closer look at two of these markers.




















This very tall and narrow marker below is made of red granite and is very striking next to white stone next to it.
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This stone is more conventional in size and shape but is carved quite nicely.

Not only can this cemetery be seen from the highway, but you see the highway from within the cemetery.  Additionally, the cemetery overlooks a large shopping center.

Resting in peace I guess can be done even in the rush of our modern pace of living.