So on my daily commute (and immediately beside the VFW I had my wedding reception) I pass an old cemetery. It's not SUPER old--there were plenty of graveyards in Holden, MA where I grew up that were far older. The shape and thickness of the stones is a give away because the further back you go the simpler the carving, the less weight dedicated to the stones. Headstones from 1700 generally are thinner and plainer than those from 1800.
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| A Tended Family Plot |
Methodist Hill has an interesting mix of plain/thin stones and ornate/thick stones. The shared time frame, early to mid 1800's, makes me think the differences are primarily related to the wealth of the interred rather than age of the stone. That's an amateur assessment, so please don't be citing this in any class papers.
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| The "New" Sign |
When I started researching the place I was pretty disappointed in what I found. It was a roadblock in writing this post for a long time, because I had NOTHING to add to the pictures. The best I could find stated something to the effect of "Yep, there's a cemetery there. It's been there a while. We're not sure how it came to be. It's not claimed or maintained by any group."
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| Plenty of Markers had Flags and Stars--I'm Assuming Veterans |
The longer I sat on this, the more I realized that's part of the mission here. The march of progress is relentless--as long as there is money to be made in development, people will develop and redevelop the land. Most of the time we focus on the loss of natural habitat, the wetlands being filled in or a forest being cut down. Just as potentially damaging and even more insidious is when history is paved over and rearranged.
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| A Less-Tended Family Plot |
Sure, we have this cemetery being preserved as a testament to the early Reynoldsburg. But someday in the distant(?) past, it was decided to tear down a church to build homes. The graveyard stayed put because come on now. The congregation no doubt moved to a new building (there's a Methodist church less than a mile down the road--maybe?) and I'm sure for a time, there was a caretaker who maintained the land.
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| Many Markers Were in Great Shape...but Even More Had Broken, and Been Stacked Neatly |
But it slipped from consciousness. If you're not adding to a cemetery it can be easy for it to lose relevance. I can see the church that started it disbanding and fading away (if it hadn't already) leaving the graves themselves in limbo. When no one remembers, that's when a thing becomes unreal. When it becomes lost. When it loses meaning.
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| There is a Variety in Markers. My Hunch is John Roberts' Family Had the Original Stone Replaced--but Perhaps Not |
Think about that the next time you see a "Coming Soon" sign--what memories had to die to bring us that new Dunkin Donuts? What memories will die over time once their source is gone?
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| The View from the Parking Lot, Looking Up from the Left of the Sign |
