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Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the 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.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
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!
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 with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture 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.
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Vandals strike burial ground;150 headstones damaged in Stamford cemetery |
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Sunday, 20 June 2004 |
By Angela Carella
Assistant City Editor
June 17, 2004
STAMFORD -- Vandals toppled about 150 headstones in a North Stamford cemetery where people of many races and faiths have been buried for more than two centuries.
Stamford police have been investigating the destruction at Long Ridge Union Cemetery on Erskine Road since Monday morning, said Sgt. Pete di Spagna, head of the property crimes division. Vandals struck between dusk Sunday and early Monday, di Spagna said.
Police spent a few days gathering information and are asking the public for help finding those who pushed over tombstones and obelisks, pulled out memorial benches and smashed urns.
"We have some leads. We are looking into them. But, unfortunately, this is a difficult crime to investigate," di Spagna said. "The only ones who witnessed it are probably those who took part."
Cemetery vandalism typically is "a high school prank perpetuated by seniors," often at graduation time, he said.
"I'm not saying that is what happened here -- I hope our children have been raised better than that," di Spagna said. "But that is what history teaches us."
Gauging the damage, police most likely are looking for a group, he said.
"By the sheer size of the stones -- some are 500 pounds or more -- I would say that more than two or three people are involved," di Spagna said.
Vandals stayed away from the front of the cemetery, where they could have been spotted by motorists on Erksine Road, and a portion of the cemetery near a house. But they hit most of the remaining portion.
The tall, thin headstone of Abigail Warring, buried in 1858 before the Civil War, appeared to have been pulled back and forth until it loosened from the earth. It leaned at a 45-degree angle yesterday. The same was done to the headstone of her husband, but it cracked at the base and fell to the ground.
An obelisk erected in 1883 was pushed over -- despite two steel rods that once secured it in the base -- the family name buried in the dirt.
A smaller headstone was rolled into the road that runs through the cemetery. Rows of granite headstones printed with family names were lying in the grass.
It is senseless to desecrate such a place, said Jim Carlsson, secretary of the board of trustees and administrative superintendent for Long Ridge Union Cemetery. It is the first such incident in his 30 years on the board, Carlsson said.
"I understand graduation time and all the things that go on, but this is far above raising a little hell at the beach with some beer," Carlsson said. "This is a whole different kind of offense, beyond acceptance."
Burial ground is sacred, he said, and so is the history contained in it.
"It's like taking fingerprints of the people who lived before -- the whole record is there on the tombstones -- and destroying them in one fell swoop," Carlsson said.
Sisters Carol Florre and Kathy Woodstead visited the grave of their father yesterday with other family members and were shocked to find headstones overturned. Their father, John Thompson, worked as the caretaker at Long Ridge Union Cemetery for 30 years.
"It's devastating," said Florre, who now lives in Florida. "It's cruel to say, but if the kids who did this are from this area, someone from their family probably knows someone who is buried here. Parents need to get a better hold on their kids."
Their father's grave was not vandalized, but it will be difficult for the families who weren't so lucky, said Woodstead, of Pound Ridge, N.Y. Her family grew up on their father's stories about the history of the cemetery.
"I feel bad for people who come to visit and run into a mess like this," Woodstead said.
The Long Ridge Union Cemetery Association's board of trustees will meet Monday, Carlsson said. Nothing has been decided about how to repair the gravemarkers, but he expects the association will try to pick up the cost.
"So far we have been treating it as a crime scene," Carlsson said. "The minute the police give us the go-ahead, we will start restoration. Some of the older stones will take time, and they will never look the same. We'll probably do those last. I have no idea how long it will take or what it will cost, but the board will bring in extra hands and expertise."
The cemetery is "like a giant patchwork quilt" of American life, Carlsson said.
Blacksmith Ezra Newman was buried in the field in 1796. A year later, his friend, John Todd Jr., a miller, gave the land to the community for a cemetery.
Members of Stamford's founding families -- Hoyt, Scofield, Lockwood, Dibble and Waterbury -- are buried there. There are veterans from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and Vietnam.
It is the resting place of people of all races and religions, rich and poor, famous and anonymous. There are headstones engraved with crosses, the Star of David and words in Arabic.
Celebrities buried there include jazz musician Benny Goodman, boxer Gene Tunney, comedian Gilda Radner and Pulitzer Prize-winning sports writer Red Smith.
It also is the resting place of 35 nameless residents of a city home for the poor who died in a fire in 1929.
"The cemetery is not divided by ethnic or religious lines; everyone is buried together," said Carlsson, who has been a member of the board of trustees for 30 years. "We are brothers and sisters. That's what it's about."
It's difficult to understand why anyone would want to destroy it, he said.
"All families have lost loved ones and have tended a burial plot. To treat it with wanton disrespect makes no sense," Carlsson said. "It's a crime against mankind."
Police hope "somebody with a conscience, someone raised by good parents, comes forward," di Spagna said.
-- Anyone with information is asked to call police at 977-4407 day or night. Information will remain confidential.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-graves4jun17,0,4149580.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines |
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