1st assignment

I have always been fascinated by history. Not just the big events or famous people but the everyday people and how they lived against the backdrops of these events. Cemeteries are a reflection of these events and the cultures of the people who lived them. From the Boston puritan grave of Elizabeth Pain, thought to be the inspiration for Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne, to the colossal, ornate final resting place of Emperor Napoleon in Paris’ Les Invalides, graves can tell us so much about the person that lies there. Social status, religion, era, family or, in Napoleon’s case, level of megalomania, this is the part of history that I love.

I was raised by a person that loves cemeteries and I suppose that love was passed onto me. My life has been intertwined with Spring Grove, walking through Spring Grove as a child, picnics at the Fleischman mausoleum in college and my Grandmother’s funeral at the Norman Chapel as an adult. This love has translated into visits to cemeteries in Boston, Paris, London and Rome. Wandering through the headstones I try to imagine what their lives were like and how they died. I wonder what they would think of the world today.

I also love the art and architecture of cemeteries. Magnificent carvings, grand obelisks and ornate findings embellish these grand monuments creating works of art as beautiful as any painting. Some graves are to impress while others are simply to mark the passing of a beloved family member but in their own way they are all beautiful.

Cemeteries are not only a glimpse into the lives of others but also into a piece of history. They lived and no matter how insignificant their grave may seem, they mattered to someone.