|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Announcements
Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
|
|
Montco church plans to relocate, taking whole cemetery with it |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Saturday, 31 July 2004 |
Graves of 290 must be identified before remains can be moved.
By Steve Wartenberg
Of The Morning Call
After a life filled with sadness and loss, at least H.B. Townsend (1839-1923) was sent to the hereafter with a little style.
''His suit was one of the better preserved things we've found; you can see the button cuffs and the double-lapelled vest. It was nice,'' said Kimberly Morrell, project archeologist for Kise Straw & Kolodner, the Philadelphia firm excavating the cemetery at Montgomery Square United Methodist Church in Montgomery Township.
In a series of red brick-lined crypts, below a family headstone, Townsend is buried with his wife, Amanda, who died 21 years before him, and his five daughters, Clara, Emma, Edith, Mary and Edna.
None of the girls made it past 4 years old; Edith and Mary died two weeks apart in 1873.
The Townsends' sad story is one of the many Morrell and her crew of eight archeologists have unearthed. They are two weeks into a two-month dig to excavate the approximately 290 bodies buried in the graveyard of the small church, which was founded in the early 1860s.
''It was a farming community back then, and this was a crossroads with the church on one corner and taverns on the other three,'' according to Pastor Menno Good.
The taverns have been replaced by a Burger King, Montgomery Mall and Airport Shopping Square Center.
The church, its 2.5 acres surrounded and hemmed in by progress, would have died a slow death if it remained at the busy intersection of Routes 309 and 202, Good said.
The congregation voted unanimously to sell the site and relocate the church, and voted 70-2 to relocate the cemetery. Good said the church has an agreement of sale with a developer, who plans to build a large pharmacy at the site. He refused to disclose the sale price.
The new church will be built on 10 acres on County Line Road, near Limekiln Pike in Montgomery Township; the cemetery will be moved to land the church purchased in Beulah Cemetery in New Britain Township.
Each set of remains from the old graveyard will be handled in one of three ways, Good said. The remains will be relocated to Beulah Cemetery; or cremated and placed in a memorial in the new church; or returned to surviving family members to re-inter as they choose.
''The soul is not in the cemetery, but with God in heaven,'' Good said.
On Tuesday, Paul Schlimme of Penns Grove, N.J., filed a petition in Montgomery County Court seeking an injunction to halt the removal and relocation to Beulah Cemetery of 30 family members buried at the church. Instead, he wants the church to pay for the bodies to be buried in a cemetery more convenient for his family.
According to archaeologist Morrell, the 30 graves cited in the lawsuit are at the northern edge of the cemetery. She and her crew started at the southern edge and are slowly working their way uphill, to the northern section — and won't get there for weeks.
Standing ankle deep in mud, Morrell described the excavation process, which involves preparation, research, science and old-fashioned elbow grease.
A good archeologist, she said, knows history, geology, forensics and osteology and needs ''a strong back, arms and wrists'' — and a good pair of waterproof boots.
Heavy rain recently has left the site a watery, mud-filled mess.
After the research of church burial records was completed, the dig began. Headstones were photographed and removed.
Then, a backhoe was used to remove the first two feet of dark topsoil. In the lighter-colored soil now visible, the trained eye can spot the subtle outline of grave shafts. To the untrained eye, it looks like dirt.
Using a laser transit, the corners and centers of each grave were marked and recorded on an electronic and hand-drawn map. Colored strings were also used to mark each grave shaft.
Using shovels and then trowels (''so we don't damage anything''), the crew uncovered coffins.
''The coffins have been in remarkably good shape,'' Morrell said. ''But the remains are very poorly preserved.''
The problem, she said, is the low water table in the cemetery. Decades of wet conditions have wreaked havoc on the human remains, but spared the wooden coffins.
''So far, skeletal remains have been few and far between,'' said Susan Garst, the project's osteologist. As the dig proceeds north, up the hill, she hopes it is drier and the remains are better preserved.
''We're looking for signs of how old they were and what sex,'' Garst said, adding this will help match the bodies to the church's records. ''And we're looking for pathology to indicate conditions they may have had: arthritis, tuberculosis, syphilis and brain tumors.''
Once removed, the remains from each grave are placed in a sealable bag and then a box.
In addition to Townsend's suit, a pair of shoes and a couple of dentures have been found.
''This is hard work,'' said Lynette Witzell, an intern from Nebraska Wesleyan University, who is working on a master's degree in forensic science. She is also an officer with the Lincoln Police Department.
Morrell said that when she meets someone and tells them she's an archeologist, they invariably get excited and say a dig is something they've always wanted to do. Then, when she says her specialty is cemetery excavation, all the would-be archeologists are still fascinated, but not as interested in joining her on a dig.
As for the Townsend family, she said, their remains will be re-interred together at Beulah Cemetery under the family headstone.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b8_2cemetery-1jul30,0,6482435.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed |
|
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
Quote Repository
“And thou, his Florence, to thy trust Receive and keep, Keep safe his dedicated dust, His sacred sleep. So shall thy lovers, come from far, Mix with thy name As morning-star with evening-star His faultless fame.” A.C. Swinburne
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
|
