Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Walking tour tells the fascinating story of Plainfields oldest cemetery

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Walking tour tells the fascinating story of Plainfields oldest cemetery

Written by DeadGirl
Friday, 14 October 2005
Walking tour tells the fascinating story of Plainfield's oldest cemetery By Marge Hoskin For the Norwich Bulletin October 11, 2005 Norwich, CT - Last week, I wandered through Old Plainfield Burial Ground with Ruth S. Brown of the Connecticut Gravestone Network. The 18th century cemetery is the resting place of Plainfield's earliest settlers and veterans of both the French & Indian War and American Revolution. Rather than climb the steep stairway from Cemetery Road, we entered at the rear of the cemetery and walked up the gradual slope to the top of burial hill with its fresh-scented carpet of pine needles. We toured the site, preparing for Sunday's "Headstones & History" guided walk sponsored by Plainfield Historical Society as part of the Heritage Corridor's Walking WeekendS. It begins at 2 p.m. Brown of Manchester will lead the walk. She is the founder and executive director of the Connecticut Gravestone Network, which works to protect old burying grounds and preserve their historic significance. Her friend, Wayne Skidgel, brought along a full-length mirror to reflect the sunlight and help us read the worn gravestone inscriptions. We admired the stone carvings, the frowning faces with upswept hair by Josiah Manning, Elijah Sikes' cherubs and those unforgettable stone faces by Jotham Warren that stare back at the viewer with wide, almond-shaped eyes. Brown was pleased with the variety of stone carvers and that 80 percent of the stones were in their original positions. Neat rows of stones in Colonial cemeteries usually mean the stones have been re-arranged to bring a sense of order. When Dr. James Slater, a professor at the University of Connecticut, visited in preparation for his 1987 book "The Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them," he found the cemetery to be "one of the saddest" in Eastern Connecticut. More than 60 schist and granite stones had been "looted, neatly broken off and taken away." Did they end up as "folk art" hanging on someone's wall or come to an even more ignominious end? Family graves, once well-tended in days gone by when people stayed in one place, are often forgotten and are prone to vandals and thieves. Small wonder there's a movement to be buried inconspicuously in wildlife sanctuaries among gardens, nature trails and butterfly ponds. Directions to Sunday's walk: Take Interstate 395 Exit 88 and drive west on Route 14A to Cemetery Road. Marge Hoskin, a Quiet Corner native, is a retired naval officer and longtime community volunteer. Her column runs every Tuesday.

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries