President's Message for December 2001
The Importance of Gravesites
As graveyard enthusiasts, I am sure we have all confronted many perplexed, incredulous and sometimes downright unpleasant and mocking inquiries as to “why?” In fact, I’m sure I’ve had more such quizzical looks and gasps (and Internet guffaws) from confessing my love for gravesites than when I’d tell them I always cleaned up my late dog’s messes when I took her for public walks! I admit, I’m not always polished when I try to explain myself. Sometimes I’m embarrassed, in a way, and don’t give a good solid answer, or other times I am perturbed myself that anyone would look down his nose at me, and don’t manage much more than a terse and very concise answer. So what are some of the reasons they are important?
I get some practical experience in the material properties of certain geologic and even metallic types. I see how various stone types and even a couple metals react to their environment and over time. I learned much in New England when I lived there, where there was access to just about every type of marker material ever used, and the stone types were part of fads as well as styles. We have many plain white sandstones and limestones here in Maryland, which unfortunately get grainy and very difficult to read when combined with fine script chiseling. Otherwise, they weather quite uniformly, rather than exfoliating and suddenly collapsing like some of their brownstone cousins do, which are very prevalent in New England - although they read beautifully when not collapsed, despite being decades older than most of our markers here. Additionally, I’ve seen how hollow zinc looks strikingly like fresh-chiseled granite despite being 100 years old, and how bronze corrodes miserably within a few decades. It is simply fascinating to see how different materials behave.
Partly encompassing this material variety is the artistic importance of gravesites. So many of our markers, particularly those from the cemetery period of the 1850s on, display a wealth of artistic beauty and poignancy. Their use of stone, color, form, and figures combined to convey some meaning to us. Simple yet classically lined slab family stones to giant colonnades guarded on all sides by angels, all demonstrate the feeling of the owners and the artistry and skill of those who designed and carved them.
There is also a spirituality about such resting places. It is partly evoked from the setting, invariably quiet and tranquil with trees and shrubbery all around, partly from the poignant art in large cemeteries, the proximity of a traditional church, or the quaint isolation and familiarity of a small family graveyard. It is hard to describe, but unmistakable when there. I think perhaps for me, it is a feeling refined by the respect I have for those laid to rest, and those who put them to rest who loved them. Perhaps, indeed, it is the combined feeling of the love which all those at rest have had in their lives.
There could be no more prominent aspect of gravesites in my mind than their intrinsic historic value. They are historic in so many ways, too! I see how people’s tastes in art and approach to death changed, if at all. I can see stone styles and sometimes glean economic circumstances from that, particularly in a local area, and then sometimes how those circumstances changed over time. Gravesites also tell us who were the families that set up the area and continue it; if you didn’t already know, now you know where all those place and street names come from! You’ll see not only Dorseys and Shipleys here, but Linthicums, Worthingtons, Gosnells, Houcks, Hollins, and Owings. And of course, you can visit the resting places of notables, and probably be closer to celebrities of different eras than you will ever be to any living! These are the only historic sites where you will actually be in the presence of a person - yes, within six feet - who had some impact on the world today. I’ve personally visited a few relatively famous people of the past, and the less famous such as long-gone soldiers whose gallant efforts had such an impact on history. My favorite memories are several Revolutionary veteran sites in Connecticut (where good stone characteristics combined with lengthy 18th-century descriptions give good stories even today). There are dozens all over the region where I lived who were “butchered by Traitor Arnold” during his raid on his hometown neighbors in 1781. There was a young man who died in a British prison, “killed by the cruel Britons”. I read of another who died “in defense of his country” in New York, and froze at the date when I realized he had been one of those caught in the Long Island disaster in 1776. Another veteran, a German with Burgoyne’s troops, who stayed in this country after the surrender and lived his life with the people who buried him. What more fascinating vignettes of history could you have?
Most importantly, there is the moral obligation we have to preserve and protect gravesites. Sites holding human remains are hallowed ground. It is a sacrilege to disturb those at rest in any way, most especially to disinter and dump or otherwise erase any sign of burial so that the site is more vulnerable to desecration, as has unfortunately been the fate of far too many graveyards in Maryland alone. Those who have been put to rest, and those who laid them there, must be respected. Each of these people was important to someone in some way. Hurting any burial place is an insult to those who cared as well as those who died.
These are only my personal answers in some ascending order of importance, but perhaps you can add to them for your own explanations. And please, feel free to write the Courier about any other thoughts! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!
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