Cemetery Stumbling

Not that I need another reason to love walking, but it really makes my day when I discover something absolutely amazing during my morning constitutional. I recently added a new loop to my circuit in an effort to explore a new area, add some distance, and, generally, to prevent myself from getting bored.

On Sunday morning, I turned onto a charming little lane known as Alcott Street. I noticed a pathway leading up an embankment and much to my wondering eyes did appear… a headstone! Initially I figured it was a family plot, as it was smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood, but upon climbing up, I was floored to discover that it was a full cemetery in the middle of the woods! To my happiness, I noticed that the graves of the veterans recently had been honored with flags, so this cemetery is not completely forgotten, but I would bet that few people apart from the homeowners whose property abuts this hidden gem even know about it.

  

The cemetery in the woods on
Alcott Street in Lowell, MA

The photo below is the detail of the tympanum of Martha Kimball’s headstone. All of the pertinent information has been shorn off, but I know that skulls preceded cherubs which preceded the urn and willow… Skulls were used extensively as decoration on headstones during the 1700s; after about 1750, the skull design began to transition to the cherub, so during this time period you find more “balloon”- shaped skulls, less grim looking skulls, and skulls with wings. The interesting thing about this design is that while the skull has a rough wing structure, it is also surrounded by those circles. Could they be flowers? Is this an afterworldly lei?



Detail of tympanum of headstone of Martha Kimball



Apart from that, the stone that this headstone is carved out of is unlike anything else in the cemetery. Sure there are lots of fine-grained slate markers, and some of the more modern stones are granite or marble. This stone has a rough look and is cut thicker and more sturdily than the others. With the exception of the fact that this stone has a coarse carving style, it almost reminds me of the Samuel Blanchard headstone from the West Parish Garden Cemetery in Andover, which is from 1707. And it is beside a smooth slate stone from 1740. I am no expert, but I would guess that Martha died somewhere between those dates.

 

The Samuel Blanchard headstone from
the West Parish Garden Cemetery in Andover, MA.
It is the oldest stone in that cemetery, from 1707.



I wish I had allowed myself more time in the cemetery, but I didn’t want to tempt fate and pick up a tick or two by staying longer. I apologize about the quality of the photos – I was clearly not expecting to find this and all I had with me was my cell phone. I guess I just wanted to share this because this discovery was so unexpected and so out of the norm that it made the morning look brighter and set the tone for the day, proving that stumbling over something first thing in the morning isn’t always a bad thing.