|
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.
|
|
Marlborough woman has grave concerns |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Sunday, 25 July 2004 |
Marlborough woman has grave concerns: Wants recognition for old cemeteries
By Jennifer Kavanaugh / News Staff Writer
July 25, 2004
MARLBOROUGH -- The city's old cemeteries may be the final home of history's forgotten forbears, but for Grace Lyons, the burial grounds give life to her imagination.
The solemn stones and fading epitaphs reveal many of the city's secrets, of family sorrows and loves lost, of triumphs and downfalls, and they recall tales passed down through more than three centuries of city generations.
"They tell the story of the city," said Lyons, a city employee and secretary for the city's Historical Commission. "They tell you about the time periods and what was happening then."
Fascinated by the final resting places, Lyons has been trying to get seven of them listed in the National Register of Historic Places: Spring Hill, Wilson, Brigham, Rocklawn (Chipman), Robin Hill, Weeks and Maplewood. Old Common, the burial ground behind the Walker Building, is already part of the Marlborough Center Historic District.
Last month, the Massachusetts Historical Commission voted to recommend their inclusion in the national register. The city is awaiting the federal government's decision.
"Now it's down in Washington," Lyons said, pointing out notable graves in Spring Hill Cemetery, the city's oldest burial spot. "I hope the National Park Service feels the same way about our cemeteries as we do."
If chosen, the city's cemeteries would join 292 Massachusetts cemeteries either listed individually or as part of historic districts in the National Register, said Brian McNiff, spokesman for the state historical commission.
The federal government has more than 800 cemeteries listed in the register, and countless more included in its 77,000 listings, said Patrick Andrus, a National Register historian.
"It's not rare or unusual for a cemetery to be listed in the National Register," Andrus said. "Cemeteries can be valued for any number of reasons, even putting aside the very personal reason that this is the final resting place for someone you care about."
Andrus said the burial places offer useful information about ancestors, ethnic groups, patterns of immigration, public health, genealogy and artistic design, among other historical aspects.
Many of the Marlborough cemeteries nominated are barely an acre, are accessible only by footpaths, or are islands almost swallowed up by larger cemeteries. People often don't even know they exist, said Gary Brown, chairman of the city's historical commission.
"Our whole history is buried there, and we should be proud of them," Brown said.
With a collection of names, dates and epitaphs carved in stone, the cemeteries illustrate the city's progression from its days as an early settlement, to an industrial center and immigrant destination.
The cemeteries also tell the story of veterans, from King Philip's War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and others. In Weeks Cemetery, at Concord Road and Sudbury Street, a stone marks the grave of Luman Fairbanks, a Civil War veteran who died on July 2, 1863, in the Battle of Gettysburg. He was 20.
In Spring Hill Cemetery, hidden behind East Main and High streets, the earliest stone remembers Capt. Edward Hutchinson, who "was shot by treacherous Indians" during King Philip's War in 1675. He died in Marlborough, before he could return to Boston.
Besides war, infant mortality and child deaths are reflected in the lives of Marlborough residents. Monuments detail countless deaths: Eleazur and Catherine Howe lost five children between 1792 and 1797, and a sixth in 1811.
And in Brigham Cemetery, Caleb and Martha Brigham laid to rest three children in six months: Laura Ann, Austin P., and Sophia, all under age 4. Fourteen years later, they buried another daughter, Sophia A., age 13.
Plenty of adults met untimely ends as well. A Spring Hill grave tells the tragedy of 20-year-old William and 28-year-old Aaron Barns, who both died on June 18, 1773. "They were awfully Drowned in the River," the inscription explains, and includes a verse:
"Behold Ye Mourners for the Dead,/In this cold grave we'v made our Bed;/And water prov'd our fatal End,/So Christ our Head, is mans best friend."
As in other communities, Marlborough's cemeteries evolved through the centuries, from crude stones of slate to more elaborately designed memorials of marble and granite. Cemetery layout also changed, from haphazard burials made by farming families, to the "park-like settings" more common today.
Cemeteries like Rocklawn (Chipman) on Stevens Street "provided a place where the dead could be buried in permanent family lots, and the landscaped grounds would provide solace for the living," wrote consultant Shary Page Berg, who prepared the city's National Register application.
The grave markers themselves reflect changing attitudes about death. According to the city's application, Spring Hill's stone designs in the 18th century progressed from the "winged death's head" to "cherubs or spirits that express a more optimistic view of death."
With a cemetery file in her office as thick as some of the city's Colonial-era tombstones, Lyons said the cemeteries help her fill in the details of local folklore.
Lyons became more interested after reading James A. Michener's novel "Hawaii," inspired by Marlborough's Lucy Goodale Thurston, a missionary to the Sandwich Islands. Her grave is in Spring Hill, and her legacy gave Marlborough a measure of literary fame.
"It was just the thought that somebody like that could be inspired by somebody from Marlborough," Lyons said.
Lyons and others started their cemetery effort several years back. Through a state initiative, they were able to hire Berg, the consultant, to prepare the application. The National Park Service has 45 days to act after getting the state's recommendation.
Lyons said she hopes the designation would lead to greater preservation efforts. According to a federal report about cemeteries, aging burial grounds face many hazards, including neglect, theft, vandalism and environmental damage.
Several years ago, a report commissioned by the state Department of Environmental Management, for instance, estimated it would cost the city more than $120,000 to fix up Spring Hill and make it more user friendly -- and that didn't include the cost of restoring grave markers.
In the seven cemeteries, conditions range from pristine markers to decaying stones, fading inscriptions and broken tablets. Metal braces hold some stones together. Besides recognition, a national listing would give the city more opportunities to apply for preservation grants.
But the National Register listing doesn't protect properties from redevelopment or nearby construction -- states and local communities have to do that on their own. And in cases where centuries-old burial grounds meet modern development, survival is a concern.
In the northwest section of the city, "Robin Hill Cemetery is a tranquil oasis in the rapidly changing landscape of Marlborough, Massachusetts," according to the city's application. Bordered by I-290 and I-495 and a day-care center, the 1-acre resting place provides refuge from the speeding cars and construction on the New England Sports Center across the street.
But now, a Vermont developer wants to build a Marriott Residence Inn next to the cemetery, and some people fear that some cemetery remains extend into the Marriott land. The developer has pledged to protect the cemetery, and that's good news, said Ward 4 City Councilor Patricia Pope, who represents that area.
"That's the history of our city, and we need to do everything in our power, and then some, to make sure nothing happens there," Pope said. Her son Drew will be one of the city's Eagle Scouts inventorying city cemeteries for projects. "These are the things our children learn from."
Lyons said the developer has offered to give the city some money, which she hopes will pay for a cemetery-preservation workshop. Ultimately, she wants to see the creation of a cemetery volunteer group.
"We want to make sure they're protected, and that people are respectful of them," Lyons said. "And we don't want people to forget that they're there for a reason."
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=73933 |
|
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
“For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead Dost in these lines their artless tale relate; If chance, by lonely contemplation led, Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,” Thomas Gray 1750 from Elegy Wr
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
|
