Where is the cemetery located?

I have observed piles of fieldstones near the boundaries of cemeteries at
various locations in the Middle Atlantic and Upper South.  When I have inquired
of community members, I discovered that the stones were removed either to
facilitate lawn mowing or because they were not recognized as gravemarkers by
people thinking in terms of the formal carved gravestones.

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Cemetery markers
Author:  "HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY" <[log in to unmask]> at NetTalk
Date:    7/12/01 1:37 PM


Hi all--

I visited an abandoned cemetery yesterday that I assume dates from
the late 19th-early 20th c.  All the markers present were fieldstone,
and the burials appear to be oriented with the heads to the west.  At
the eastern end of the cemetery, where the main avenue of approach
would have been judging from the road network and topography, was a
pile of more fieldstone.  I realize that these may have been
stockpiled for, or removed from, the cemetery, but it also occurred
to me that they may have formed a monument for the cemetery itself in
the absence of an associated church.  Perhaps a cairn, and even more
tentatively, a cairn with a cross (or something) stuck in it.

Has anybody come across a similar situation?

Thanks,

Chris Clement