1/21/14

Hope everyone had a lovely Martin Luther King Jr. Day and enjoyed the extra day off from work. I wanted to fill everyone on what my fieldwork was like on Friday and I am warning you there are a lot of pictures!

Our first cemetery of the day Glenwood

            We went to three different cemeteries: Glenwood, African American Cemetery in Glenwood, and Bethel Cemetery. The first, Glenwood, was a well-kept and still functioning cemetery. Here is where I encountered for the first time a unique look into the various uses of memorializing past loved ones through tombstones and trinkets. The saddest was for a four year old’s grave toys, which could very well be his, were spread out around the headstone. It was interesting to see such tender display shown on this new grave and then just a few hundred yards away another grave marker had a long neck beer with a saucy koozie standing as tribute to the fallen “free spirit”. It was just a very jarring juxtaposition, but I do find gestures and even the epitaphs themselves to be incredibly fascinating. It’s a topic I could focus on for hours especially when it comes to the more unique looking tombstones.

Some of the toys found at the young boy's grave

The koozie reads "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones Chains and Whips Excite Me"

            The second cemetery was completely abandoned and can only be accessed through traipsing through the woods. Due to my aversion of nature, especially snakes, spiders, and that day ticks, I did not have a chance to take pictures of the broken or overgrown graves. It was quite sad that the African American cemetery was allowed to reach to such a state of disrepair and that it will be a very gradual process to reverse the damage from vegetation and man.

Last but not least is Bethel

            Lastly, we went to Bethel Cemetery, which just like Glenwood was well maintained and still in use. This one contained more family plots then I have seen in a while, but the saddest was that of two brothers who passed away due to an epidemic that was sweeping Volusia County in 1886. There were more beer cans here and I saw my first tombstones with pictures inlaid as well. It was very nicely done I must say. It was a very nice cemetery, as much as one can say a cemetery is nice. Here we catalogued every grave we saw in order to have a much more updated count and it will help complete the necessary paperwork for Bethel.

This grave belongs to one of the young boys who died in an epidemic from 1886. The dove on top of the stone was often used on young children's graves (a deer was also used at times).  

Another form of memorializing through beer. Found the juxtaposition of angel and beer ironic. 

While we only catalogued at Bethel, we did complete site evaluation forms for all three cemeteries. It focused on the amount of damage (if any) to the cemetery, types of materials used for markers and tombstones, and the overall foliage of the cemetery. It was fairly extensive forms that we filled out that will be beneficial for future five-year plan on preserving the cemeteries. It was a very interesting field day and I am excited to see what other cemeteries will bring for I know there are some ginormous ones that will need to be tackled. Tomorrow I’m back in the office and will be focusing on the paperwork for Bethel and Cassadaga Cemeteries; I can hardly wait!