Wednesday, March 25, 2009

My Town "Cemetery Day" Shoot Out

First a note: Since we are never sure who will join us in our Friday photo shoot outs, I will not be posting direct links. Some people can not post on Fridays due to time zones and those little last minute things that come up. Some people also like to join in at the last minute.

Those who are participating, please leave a link back to your site so that others can enjoy our weekly town shoot outs.

Butler and Bagman, you get to pick next week's assignment.

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"A cemetery is a history of people - a perpetual record of yesterday and sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery exists because every life is worth loving and remembering - always." - Author Unknown

Crisfield was founded in 1666. By 1904, Crisfield was the second largest city in the state of Maryland. That changed over the years, and now we have around 2,800 people in the city limits. I'm good with that.

Since the early days, Crisfielders have been hardworking people living uncomplicated lives. That kind of stuck.

For that reason, we don't have a lot of upscale cemeteries or decorative grave markers in Crisfield. There are no towering angels; no massive statues, unless you count our Dough Boy. We do have some fancy grave markers, but giving our history, I went with a simplistic photo shoot; more of a snap shot tour instead of an artsy photographic study.

This is our main cemetery where the Dough Boy stands guard.









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You can ride around Crisfield and see grave markers in many yards. Sometimes you will see one out in a open field. Sometimes you'll catch a glimpse of one peeking out from behind vines and overgrown brush in the woods.





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These graves are surrounded by an iron fence where they sit all alone on a well cared for lot. I did not have time to gather any history on this site, so not sure if a church or home once sat here.





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This is a shot taken at the Asbury United Methodist Church around the corner from me. I love those beautiful purple flowers.


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St. Peters Methodist Church was founded in 1782. It is known as the spiritual birthplace of Joshua Thomas who preached his first sermon at the church in 1807. Thomas, who is famous for getting into a log canoe and traveling many miles to preach on islands like Deal Island and Smith Island, was known as the “Parson of the Islands”. 500 yards to the north of the sign is where he launched his first log canoe, “The Methodist”.





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This cemetery is a short drive out of of Crisfield, but I thought I would include it because it fascinates me.

Coventry Parish Church was erected in 1784 -1792, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Thanks to the Rehobeth Ruritan Club, the Maryland Historical Trust, and Somerset County Historical Trust the ruins were stabilized.






"The Christian cemetery is a memorial and a record. It is not a mere field in which the dead are stowed away unknown; it is a touching and beautiful history, written in family burial plots, in mounded graves, in sculptured and inscribed monuments. It tells the story of the past, not of its institutions, or its wars, or its ideas, but of its individual lives,--of its men and women and children, and of its household. It is silent, but eloquent; it is common, but it is unique. We find no such history elsewhere; there are no records in all the wide world in which we can discover so much that is suggestive, so much that is pathetic and impressive." - Joesph Anderson, American clergyman (1836 -1916)

16 comments:

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Beautiful pictures Patty and lovely quotes and bits of history.
Hope your weekend is filled with love, joy and laughter and......

Steady On
Reggie Girl

Bagman and Butler said...

You sure do get around to a lot of places in Chrisfield! I just struck me that all these cemetary shots were shot in "fields of Christ" Aptly named town. I too like the purple flowers and the rocks in the forground, the flower in the canon, the feet detail in the soldier...and the overall grouping...there is a beauty in the whole of this post that is greater than the sum of its parts.

I get to choose next week?! Of course, then, I'll make it easy on myself and choose a theme that I shoot anyway -- although I will challenge myself to shoot something new so I don't just put the camera away and live in the past.

My suggestion would be wild animals...how animals have adapted to living around us as we have encroached over the last 300 years.

Joanne said...

There's a large cemetery here with thousands of graves, it sits on a sloping hill. Once a year for All Souls Day, candles and elaborate floral bouquets are set at all the graves. It's a sight to see once the sun sets, with those thousands of candles shimmering in the night.

Missy said...

Very nice shots and far different graveyard compared here in Japan. Good to know a little bit history of your town too :-) looks interesting. Have a nice weekend

Barry said...

Your photography, as always, Patty, is just stunning. It takes me a long time to go through your photos because I have to pause to click on them for the enlarged view.

Obviously you saved the best for last. Its obvious why Coventry Parish Church is on the National Register!

J9 said...

I loved the iron fence (I must be in an iron kick right now...) However that was nothing compared to Coventry - you were right to include it as it is simply breathtaking!
And, my cemetery shots are up!

hensly said...

Awesome photos! Thanks for the information about your town and history. I appreciate the time and effort you gave to take photos at different graveyards.

Mahalo!

Girl Tornado said...

Thanks Patty for such a beautiful post. I love the history you included, esp that about Coventry Parish Church. I love the old and weathered grave stones, such history amongst them!

I managed a few shots of the South Haven cemetery here in Kansas, although I did want to visit several other cemeteries and ran out of time!

Oh and I do love the purple flowers too... there's some spots here that are just a carpet of these purple flowers and they are gorgeous!

aurbie said...

Hello Everyone. Thanks for joining in. So many places to see. Hawaii has joined us this week, as well as a few others.

I have been rather busy, so please everyone, leave a link in your posts back to your site, so people will know where to go on these little tours.

As we all know, blogging can be time consuming, and some new people might speed read and miss your town.

I'm off on a couple of assignments, and will get back with everyone tomorrow.

Butler and Bagman, are you serious? Or was Bagman just pulling a fast one? Wildlife? Am I going to have to camp out in the woods? It is your call, but not sure if people will have to go hunting elusive beasts with a camera.

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Okay...........I'm with you!!! I think that either Butler or Bagman is hitting the sauce again.
Wild animal's.....errr.....huh??? I totally agree with him that we have encroached on them terribly I don't know about Crisfield, but there aren't many lion's, tiger's and bear's hanging around in Newnan. If there were, I'm not terribly sure that I would get out there with them for a shot for a blog. If he wants to do animal's I think we have to ba a little more.......how do you say......do-able??
Let me know okay (and I'm okay Patty and your-emails and comments have been a bright spot and mean more than you know. Say hi to Huey and the gang for us).

Steady On
Reggie Girl

Anonymous said...

Wow Patty! I love these - I especially love the Thomas Dix stone, the fence shot a few photos below that and the very last one posted is AMAZING.

How do I leave a back link? :)

Unknown said...

I am so glad I happened upon your blog through one of those Alice and Wonderland paths...Your photos are lovely. I will join the Friday Shoot Outs...Look for something on lifeiznow.blogspot.com later this evening central time.

Gordon said...

Hi Patty. I was invited on Thursday night late to participate. There are pictures of St. Augustine Cemeteries on my blog now That I posted today. I will be updating the info this weekend. If you would pass the word, I would appreciate it. I enjoyed your cemetery posts very much. GordonH

HalfCrazy said...

Sorry if I can't join in this Cemetery shootout. Like I've mentioned in Reggie Girl's blog, cemeteries are miles away from here lol. So I'll just try to participate next week!

The graveyard is rather simple but I like it. It looks creepy though, lol.

The Pink Birdhouse said...

What more can I say, another great post and the pics are terrific. I love that old St. peter's church and cemetary. It sooo reminds of the old churchs in the midwest where my father is from, and we would spend summers there with his family. My mom was into genealogy so we would spend hours walking around old church cemetaries just like this one. That picture brought back some real good memories for me! It actually transported me back in time for a split second. Thank you for that, Patty, and for the nice post. Hopefully I will be joining in with your gals soon.

Anonymous said...

I am soon to move to Crisfield, I would love to know where I could see historic photos of the town and get info on the town's past.