Cemeteries-A Labor of Love

I may be one of those weird people, but I love cemeteries, I don't remember when this fascination started but I  believe that cemeteries are a labor of love and remembrance not for the loved ones that passed away but for the ones left behind. Remembering the people that "passed" to the other side is something we as human beings have done since the beginning of time-we can see it all over the world, from the Pyramids in Egypt to the Indian Mounds all over the United States to cemeteries. 

When we got this assignment we were told  that there was a Confederate Cemetery not too far from the Bed and Breakfast. We really didn't have much of a chance to explore the town since our arrival in May. We had some free time and decided to visit the Confederate Cemetery.

The anticipation was killing me; not so much my husband. He thinks that cemeteries are not someplace you "just go" to walk around and read tombstones.  He accompanied me anyway and of course only if it was during the day and certainly not twilight.

The cemetery is  about 1-3 miles from the Inn in the outskirts of a residential neighborhood. Driving through I got such a nostalgic feeling seeing the very old tombstones in between brand new ones.

The Confederate Cemetery in Helena, Arkansas is in the southwest corner of  Maple Hill Cemetery. Driving slowly through it just brought so much emotion in me, seeing different tombstones, statuary and elaborate memorials got me thinking how much the people that erected these statutes and memorials wanted their loved ones remembered.As we parked and got ready to walk among the grave sites my Husband said: "I don't understand how you can love to do this; it gives me the creeps", but I just continued on my way as he followed and read inscriptions getting more interested as we went along.

Many stood out before we even got to the Confederate Cemetery as we ventured through reading old and fading chiseled names, dates and words on the tombstones and memorials.

The one that caught our curiosity was of perfect stone dog sitting as if waiting for his master on top of the tombstone the inscription said "Waiting".The inscription right below read: DR. Dr. Emile Overton Moore, BORN OCT. 2 1854-MURDERED FEB. 16, 1893

Underneath it read:

"HIS ERRORS WERE THE ERRORS OF A MAN

AND THEY STAND OUT IN BOLD CONTRAST

WITH THE TIME SERVING, TWO FACED HYPOCRITES

WHO CONSPIRED TO HAVE HIM MURDERED."

Close to the above statue was a 25 foot tall monument with the Patriarch on top. This monument had all four sides depicted for the "Coolidge" family. They commissioned someone to chisel all of the seven children that this couple had and out of all of them only one survived through childhood. Some of the children lived a couple days and some till they where Five. Below the monument where the tombstones of the children and one said simply "Little Timmy". Mr. Coolidge lived to a ripe old age of 80. Since he was a man of means he donated the plot of land for the Confederate Cemetery.

When we finally made it to the Confederate Cemetery.It was unbelievable that most of the tombstones where unnamed-unknown soldiers that died in the Civil War; rows upon rows of tombstones with "Confederate Soldier" chi sled on them. It was somber and sad but we where glad no one forgot them and buried them and remember them still.

This is one of many many confederate cemeteries throughout the country, the oldest Civil War Confederate Cemetery is located in Lynchburg, VA. Even after so many many years, lets not forget our fallen soldiers from the past and the present. Those brave selfless soldiers that fought so long ago and the present ones that continue to fight for the freedom we sometimes take for granted.