Tombstone Tuesday--Whipple Cemetery

 Whipple Cemetery is located in northern Newaygo County, in the northernmost tier of townships, and on the border of the two townships west of  of the county's center line, on a local gravel road.

 In spite of the rather remote location, it appears to be a very well maintained cemetery, and while there are many older stones, there are also many newer looking stones.

 And I like this picture.  Water is available, but not without some work.

Here you can see what must be a newer portion of the cemetery.  Most of the stones you can easily see are more modern granite.  Notice that there are many plots with borders.  Even that single grave in the foreground is bordered.

 The Moote family have five family members in their plot, although in this picture only one newer stone is visible.  You can clearly see the border that surrounds the plot in the front of the stone.  The Moote family graves date back to 1881, and are as recent as 1947.  And do you see the purplish haze above the stone, near the branch?  Perhaps one of the family members popped up to see what was going on.

I don't notice any signs of vandalism in any of our pictures.  Many of the pictures we have show stones in good repair.  This stone still has the fragile finial in the shape of an urn on the top.

Here is another group shot of graves. A substantial border for the back group, and a very large rectangular urn, still with geraniums blooming.  The main problem many of these graves face appear to be lichens.  Many are not readable, and in many cases, lichens and discolorations seem to be the problem.

This stone simply reads Clarence J. with the dates 1853 - 1909.  Who was this man?  What was his story?  Was he a logger with no family?  A stranger who came by, and passed away?  Or did his family stop, but not stay.  Apparently someone has maintaining this grave, as the died back plants and the little picket fence area attest to.
RIP Clarence, and all who rest here.