I See Dead People's Gravestones

From Dave Brigham:

People have been dying since they began living. This is a sad, but true, fact. Part of the circle of life. Yet as commonplace as death is, the rituals surrounding it fascinate us. And we are drawn to graveyards in an effort to understand just a little bit about who our predecessors were, and to connect to something larger than ourselves.

Or maybe we just like to see cool gravestones.

Earlier this year I strolled through Boston's Granary Burying Ground and the nearby King's Chapel Burying Ground and shot some pictures. More recently I returned to the Granary, as I realized I'd somehow skipped over two very important, but most certainly dead, residents. I had planned to get there sooner, but this &$%*#$ pandemic has thrown a real monkey wrench into my Backside of America photo jaunts.

In the Granary site, I saw a handful of markers like the gravestone in the above photo, with knight's helmets and birds. I'm not sure the significance; could be linked to military service or European ancestry.

Here's another:

Established in 1660, the Granary Burying Ground has approximately 2,300 markers, and was named for the 12,000-bushel grain storage building that was once next door, per the Freedom Trail web site linked above. Originally part of the nearby Boston Common, the cemetery is hemmed in by numerous buildings, including a Suffolk University property, the Boston Athenaeum, the Park Street Church (former site of the granary) and the Congregational Library & Archives, the latter of which I featured in the second installment of my Beacon Hill series (see January 4, 2020, "Beacon Hill Randoms, Part II"). As such, there are numerous grave markers embedded into buildings. I assume this means these buildings were constructed over former graves.

The marker in the above photo says, "No. 107 Johnson Jackson's Tomb 1810."

I don't know if Johnson Jackson was a person, or whether this is the stone for two families, but whoever's in there should be happy knowing that even folks who signed the Declaration of Independence have been stuck in the wall.

(Gravemarker for Robert Treat Paine, the first attorney general for Massachusetts, who served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.)

(More evidence of the burying ground's tight quarters.)

The grave markers mounted to brick walls were new to me, as were coins placed on gravestones.

Leaving a coin on a gravestone is a way to let the family or friends of the deceased know that you were there, that you are honoring the person.

Below is the marker for David S. Greenough (1752-1826), who was a member of the so-called Sons of Liberty, a loosely organized group of Europeans fighting taxation of colonists by the British government.

Below is the stone memorializing members of the Bowdoin clan.

Built around 1744 by the Hon. James Bowdoin, per the inscription, this tomb includes the remains of Gov. James Bowdoin, after whom Bowdoin College in Maine was named. Also, "perhaps" the body of Pierre Baudoin, a French Huguenot immigrant who was the father of James the elder, and other family members.

Perhaps we should talk about the elephants in the graveyard, as it were.

This obelisk marks the burial site of John Hancock: "an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution," says Wikipedia. "He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Also, he laid his amazing signature on the Declaration of Independence, and even had an insurance company named after him.

(Decorative urn, with coins, that is part of Hancock's gravesite.)

Then there's Paul Revere.

I suppose he's more well-known than John Hancock, what with the famous midnight ride and all. A silversmith by trade, Revere served in a militia during the Revolution, and was actively involved in activities of the Sons of Liberty. His former house in Boston's North End is now a museum.

Revere also took part in the Boston Tea Party, as the marker to the right of the tombstone indicates.

Below are a few artsy, black-and-white shots I took on my return trip to the burying ground.

The final shot of the Granary site is the back of the Paulist Center on Park Street.

Now for a few shots from the King's Chapel Burying Ground.

I thought having your grave marker embedded in a brick wall was the high point of getting dissed in a cemetery. But I was wrong. Being hung on a fence, that is the low point, the nadir, the ultimate slap in the skull. Who was John Tudor? "He was a baker and deacon of Second Church," per this Waymarking post. Although I'm not sure if perhaps the esquire on the marker might be a successive generation. Anyway. This plaque marks the Tudor family tomb, which includes, per Waymarking, Frederic Tudor, who "became known as the 'Ice King' for his establishment of the Tudor Ice Company, the most successful ice harvesting company during the industry's in the 19th century."

(Another coin tribute.)

Last, but not least, is the Crafts & Bell Family Tomb, with a marker indicating a Boston Tea Party participant is buried within. Thomas Crafts handed out costumes for the rebellious act.

These are just two of many graveyards I've checked out over the life of this blog (see January 14, 2020, "Of Pests, Pestilence and Death," August 20, 2019, "A Perfect Sanctuary" and July 18, 2013, "Cool Stones").

With Halloween approaching, now is as good a time as any to check out some cool graveyards!