My Father and grandfather were undertakers, so I guess it's in my blood to be drawn to cemeteries. I think they are beautiful and peaceful, yet often sad. So many died so young. So many babies and young mothers. The old stones are often beautiful and personal works of art. There are often puzzles and riddles in the placement of family graves that once meant everything to someone. The messages on the older stones are fading and FindaGrave is saving images of them forever. I love that. Also, families long separated by time and distance can be linked together as one once again. I love that too. The cemetery is one of the only places you can go and nothing has changed for a hundred years or more. This is the spot where that dear and loved person was laid to rest and their loved ones stood there on that spot and mourned them. The ground is sacred with centuries of tears. I feel a connection to them there, and there only. There are so many nameless and unmarked graves with only rough stones or not even that. Once, loved ones who knew they were there, came and laid flowers there year after year, but when they too passed on, the memory of who was buried there was forgotten. That's sad because they deserve to be remembered just as much as the one next to them who had a stone. Who were they? I want to capture images of as many of the old stones as possible before time and weather destroys them further. It is the most untouched and enduring monument that we have, erected to our history and the journey that was traveled in the past in that place.

My Father and grandfather were undertakers, so I guess it's in my blood to be drawn to cemeteries. I think they are beautiful and peaceful, yet often sad. So many died so young. So many babies and young mothers. The old stones are often beautiful and personal works of art. There are often puzzles and riddles in the placement of family graves that once meant everything to someone. The messages on the older stones are fading and FindaGrave is saving images of them forever. I love that. Also, families long separated by time and distance can be linked together as one once again. I love that too. The cemetery is one of the only places you can go and nothing has changed for a hundred years or more. This is the spot where that dear and loved person was laid to rest and their loved ones stood there on that spot and mourned them. The ground is sacred with centuries of tears. I feel a connection to them there, and there only. There are so many nameless and unmarked graves with only rough stones or not even that. Once, loved ones who knew they were there, came and laid flowers there year after year, but when they too passed on, the memory of who was buried there was forgotten. That's sad because they deserve to be remembered just as much as the one next to them who had a stone. Who were they? I want to capture images of as many of the old stones as possible before time and weather destroys them further. It is the most untouched and enduring monument that we have, erected to our history and the journey that was traveled in the past in that place.