Tuesday, August 24, 2010

OLDE NORTH CHURCH, COPP'S CEMETERY, RAIN, FOG, BOSTON

Above is the steeple of the Olde North Church as seen from the streets of Boston. It's the Church where the two lanterns were hanged (hung?) indicating that the British were "coming by sea"-letting the Sons of Liberty, of which Paul Revere was a member, to put their plan into action.
Some history of the Olde North Church.

In the Church itself, families "buy" individual pews that are enclosed. They are "assigned" seating.
Revere's descendants still maintain upkeep of the Church.
These are our feet on the Freedom Trail, which is marked by a narrow band of bricks along the sidewalk in Boston. You follow the bricks through the historic parts of Boston, which are plentiful.
This is Peter and I at the Copp's Cemetery. It's the oldest cemetery in Boston. It contains the remains of many of the pilgrims. Some of the headstones date back to the 1600s. I wish I had the words to explain the feelings present in that place. Truly, it was sacred space. I loved it. The history, the courage, the commitment to values and beliefs, the faith...everything.

I loved the above two headstones. They were joined together by intertwining vines. I was very moved by them. There were the only two headstones that I could find that were like this. I felt it was very poignant. I couldn't see any other stones with any vines on them, much less joining them with another stone.
Most of the stones had one of the three engravings above on them. Over 80% had the top engraving on the stones. When you see it, it's rather disturbing. We tend to celebrate life, but culturally, life was so difficult, I guess they viewed mortality differently. So, it looks rather gruesome when confronted face to face on those dark, stark, slate headstones in the rain and fog. It was unsettling. Below are the explanations for each of the etchings found on the stones in the cemetery. It's very interesting, so I thought I would include it.


Tonight, we're in Maine. Tomorrow, we will go to Rockland, Camden, and Sprucehead Island areas. I'm very happy to see where Peter and the boys lived. All is well.







2 comments:

Unknown said...

i am so jealous of your vacation. i love historic vacations. they are the best!

The Katzbox said...

Abby, you would adore Boston. You would truly appreciate and adore Boston.