02 March 2010

Tombstone Tuesday--Davenport West Cemetery.

This week we scurry across Beech Avenue to the west side of Davenport cemetery.
Having only driven past this cemetery, I never realized how they both see fairly comperable, although West does seem maybe a little newer. In our transcript book, however, this is listed as (Old) Davenport Cemetery. But the most outstanding feature of Davenport West, to me, seems to be bordered family plots.
Look at all of them!
A close inspection of the above picture shows at least 5 or 6 plots sectioned off. And look at the size of the tree in that one. I also noticed the many of these areas have fairly new looking granite stones.
The setting for this cemetery, as was the case with East Davenport, is farmland. This side of the road seems a little flatter, although the cemetery itself is on a gentle slope.
Charles and Mary Seaman died in 1929 and 1954. Their identical stones flank the urn near the edge of the cemetery. A quiet setting. And again, notice the bordered plot behind them.
This little stone, still remembered. I had to look up the cemetery listing as the lettering is clear, but still a little hard to read. Listed in the Old Davenport section is Amasa Davis. She was born in 1877 and died 1945 and clearly not forgotten.
It did occur to me that perhaps some readers, especially those from warmer parts of the country may wonder at the upside flower urns in some of the pictures here and previously. It is a sign that these graves are tended and cared for by loved ones. Many families dump the soil on the graves, spreading it out and disposing of old plants. They then turn the urn over so it does not fill with ice or snow during the wonderful snowy winters we have, thus often cracking. Come spring, it will be flipped back and filled with fresh dirt and plants.
On my husband's parent's grave the urn was tipped each year, enriching the sandy soil of the grave sites with good rich farm soil. In the spring we came with a bucket soil from the garden and/or pasture, ready to fill it up again before planting.
With so many now using artificial flowers and plants, the richness of the soil may not matter, but the urns must still be flipped to avoid cracking and breaking.

1 comment:

  1. I am thrilled to find this blog! You have a picture of a small stone for Amasa Davis. This is actually my husbands grandfather- it is a man, not a woman as you indicated. He died when my father in law was only seven years old. Bill left Michigan two years later for South Dakota and never returned, to my knowledge. He knows so little of his father. I can't wait to share this with him in the morning!

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