Salem Cemetery stuff!

[lb_lee]

Sneak: On Wednesday, we took advantage of the cheap rail tickets to go on an adventure (day trip) to Salem, MA with sinistmer ! We did a lot of fun things, and we visited two old cemeteries. One, which had the memorial to witch hunt victims, was crammed with people and watched like hawks. You couldn't touch anything or leave the officially sanctioned paths. The second graveyard, even though it was only a few blocks away, was totally deserted; only two people wandered in the whole time we were there, and they left pretty quickly. You could go anywhere, touch anything, so us and Sinistmer climbed a really cool tree and had fun looking at all the old epitaphs!

The best name we found in that graveyard was Ms. Silence Hobart. (There was also a Prudy, which we assume is short for Prudence.) And here are the two best epitaphs!

"There's nothing in this world so trying
As to see our children dying." (1811, I unfortunately didn't write which children's stone it was)

"Come hither youth and cast an eye
Come read your doom, prepare to die
Although you are young yet, die you must
One day like me return to dust." (Catherine Shed, d. 7/27/1813)

Then there was Abner Hill, who died 10/25/1806 and "whose Death was caus'd by his falling from a building when employ'd in the business of life." Plot twist! We expected that sentence to end with "roofing" or "building" or something, but saying he was "employ'd in the business of life" makes it sound like he was philosophizing on a rooftop... or, Mori says, trying to rob someone in a penthouse.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

writes down epitaphs

[lb_lee]

Mori: We have a bunch of them stockpiled. Hey, working on a horror story in New England, you never know when you need a creepy historically-accurate gravestone text!

[minoanmiss]

EXACTLY!

[acorn_squash]

Catherine Sled wanted to unnerve people everyone who read her epitaph, ever, and I respect that.

[lb_lee]

Mori: I think she died as a relatively young adult, thus why her headstone is so hardcore about "PREPARE TO DIE KIDS." It's an adaptation of a fairly common epitaph all over the place: "Remember me as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I; As I am now, so you must be, Therefore prepare to follow me." Hers is just unusually doomy.

[the_broken_tower]

Such a difference between the two graveyards. :) I wonder what sets them apart?

Some of the favourite things about old graveyards over here is how artistic older headstones can be, and the process by which they become part of the landscape. Lichens and moss colonising the old stones, filling the cracks with thriving green things, and melding it back into earth.

- White (he/him)

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Ooh, yes, White, that's a very good way to put it! There was a family crypt at the busy one where the stones had been undisturbed for so long, they were slowly getting subsumed by tree roots! That was really nice.

Mori: the difference was one graveyard was part of the whole witch trials tourist bomb, and the other was not. The quiet one post-dated the witch hunt, and thus wasn't fit into the tourist branding. (Salem goes BALLS-OUT for witches.) The busy one had the memorial for the victims, and also had graves of various people associated with them, so there were guided tours and everything. We aren't really into that aspect of graveyard visiting, so it was wasted on us. (We're there because we like looking at the names, epitaphs, art motifs, and evolution in materials and design over time. The only time we've gone hunting stones for specific PEOPLE was when we went a-hunting a couple old abolitionists' stones in Forest Hills.)

[manglefox]

My name used to be more common.
-Silence

[lindsworldtree]

Speaking of graveyards, we wonder about any cultures present, past, or even fictional that try to idk.. *do something* with them, inspired by your journey here- we are sort of aware many cultures bury with intention and purpose, and also aware many have more elaborate graveyards. But what of 'grave - parks' , or 'grave - gardens' , or even 'grave - amusement parks' . .. Basically, places where people who've died can leave behind more of a reminder of their lives , more to be impacted by, then an epitaph and maybe a neat gravestone if they're lucky :p combinations of 'intention' (a forest or a pyramid tomb) and 'remembrance of those buried here' (graveyard)

[lb_lee]

I mean, garden/park cemeteries were pretty popular for a time! In Boston, Mt. Auburn and Forest Hills are both of this type, really scenic beautiful places that are fun to hike around and just explore the way you would any other park.

Also, some informal, super old graves get assimilated into other properties over time; Boston's Arnold Arboretum has roughly a dozen graves hidden in it, out of the way but not too difficult to chase down. So, while Mt. Auburn and Forest Hills are graveyard parks, the Arboretum is a park that just HAPPENS to have a few really old graves in it. Come for the bonsai, stay for the dead people!

[lindsworldtree]

Thank you for this comments, was interesting <3