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Why

I've been walking through cemeteries since I was a small child with my father. They've always been very peaceful places to me. As I grew older and developed an interest in history and genealogy, they became invaluable tools of research.

Now that I live about 5 feet from a colonial cemetery I feel somewhat more protective towards them. I can look out my windows and feel a sense of peace as I look at all the headstones. I've learned a tremendous amount about the history of Portsmouth just by reading and researching these irreplaceable artifacts. But I'm horrified to see people walking their dogs and letting them squat on peoples graves. I'm becoming nervous at the rise in the amount of homeless people that sleep and drink in it. And I'm disgusted when I see not only all the broken stones, but the fact that they've been broken for so long.

I'm very lucky that I have a string of ancestors that have been in New England for 300 years and in some cases be able to view their gravestones. Last year, in a 250 year old cemetery called Old Burying Hill in Newburyport, MA, I found the grave of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Judith Pidgin (that's 7 greats). She died in August 22, 1784 when the town was still just Newbury. That cemetery is now completely overrun with some animal that tunnels holes right into the graves. Many stones that have been standing for 200 years and more have been toppled over from the animal burrowing under the stone. Nothing is been done to save this cemetery which makes my and many other people's ancestor's gravestones at risk.

There are so many significant aspects of tombstones, from the symbolism to art to history, they are a valuable learning tool and source of information that must be preserved.

Why aren't these final tributes considered art? How many sculptures are there in your local Art Museum from popular sculptors from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries? Each piece is a entirely unique work of art, never to be seen in any other place. These cemeteries should be treated with the same respect as a museum, and the gravestones as valuable artifacts.

Cemeteries in Distress

October 24, 2002 - The Old Hill Burying Ground in Newburyport gets worse every time I visit. There are now even more holes, and many more fallen stones. Stones that had been standing for over two hundred years until a simple rodent came along and toppled them. Note in the first picture a gravestone has fallen into the hole dug by this animal into the grave itself. This is a common site in this cemetery.