tales of an ordinary girl

Sunday morning I decided to take a little tour of Catawba County, where my sister lives, because it was on my way to the South Mountains.

I didn't really see everything, of course, but I was able to highlight an old church and graveyard, and some of the local scenery. Click on the link to see the pictures larger and in more detail.



Original Source

The graveyard was really interesting. I've seen older gravestones in Boston, and these weren't as well preserved. Anything older than around the 1860's was pretty much illegible, although a tracing might have revealed more.

I mentioned to my sister how all of those people wanted to be remembered, or at least their families wanted them to be remembered, and yet after a few centuries the headstones are illegible. She said that the families in the area have been there for centuries, including her husband's family, and they know who's buried where. It's a badge of pride to have family buried in the oldest graveyard in the county.

I never really lived in any one place for very long and I've never felt any place was really home. I moved when I was young from Illinois to North Carolina. I had some objection to being a Southerner, so I never settled in there like my brothers and sister did. Even here in Kansas I feel rootless. I can't even conceptualize having family in the same place for generations.

Oh, another little thing I noticed. Many of the tombstones are shaped like a sheeted ghost. You know, the bump of a head and two arms outstretched, the rest a formless body. I wonder if that had anything to do with people seeing ghosts.