Cemeteries in the Snow

Cemeteries in the Snow?

Okay, call me a taphophile if you must, but I REALLY love photographing stones and statuary in the snow. Most people I "used" to know only went to cemeteries when they had to. You know, funerals and to maybe place flowers at Memorial Day or special days such as birthdays etc.. The people I know now spend a great deal of time in cemeteries walking, having lunch, studying genealogy, taking tours , and also practicing photography.

Whoa. Let's back up a bit.

What's a "TAPHOPHILE" you ask?

Taphophilia is a passion for and the enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile. Taphophilia involves epitaphs, gravestone rubbing, photography, art, and history of (famous) deaths. I love it all! All except the gravestone rubbing because it can actually hurt the stone and affect its appearance after awhile.

Epitaphs can be funny as well as advice laden.

Here are a couple:

Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime

Dean Martin

______________________________

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,

To digg the dust encloased heare!

Blest be the man that spares thes stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones.

William Shakespeare

I have been a fan of cemeteries and I'm not really sure where that came from? My earliest memories of actually spending any amount of time in a cemetery was when my parents would haul all of us to remote Webster County WV cemeteries to clean stones and place flowers. Having lunch on a blanket was a typical event during those afternoon treks as many southerners have done and still do.

My love of cemeteries entered into my professional life in 2005 and  leading cemetery tours seemed a natural addition to leading ghost hunts and haunted tours. I loved grabbing my candle lantern, donning my civil war era cape and leading people into the dark shadows among stones and the somewhat eerie crypts.

I have led nighttime tours of cemeteries since 2005. Cemeteries I have done professional tours at include:

Massillon Cemetery (Massillon OH)

Akron Cemetery (Akron Ohio)

Seville Cemetery (Seville OH)

Gnadenhutten Cemetery (Gnadenhutten OH)

Summersville M.E South.Cemetery (Summersville WV)

Pioneer Cemetery (Canal Fulton OH)

Schoenbrunn Village cemetery (Tuscarawas County OH)

But getting back to cemeteries in the snow...

Cemeteries in winter take on a whole new feeling. It's a fresh and clean landscape. Gone is the grass and the muddy car tracks and in it's place lies a crisp white coat of snowy pureness.

Snow on the hillside cemetery

  Photo by Renee Deal, Summersville WV 2010

One of the reasons I love cemeteries in the winter is because of photos like this.

Statue's tell stories and they are made all the more poignant when dusted with snow.

Angel draped in white snow

Cemetery in Canton Ohio

The symbolism of the two hands clasped represents a union of sorts, marriage or a couple who were partners in life. Stone's tell stories!

While winter is still upon us, take time to venture out to a local cemetery. Grab your camera, some hot chocolate to go, and head off into the fresh snow.

You may be surprised at some of the beautiful sights you will come across!

THE END

(or is it??)

 

Cemeteries, Cameras, and Lanterns, Oh My!

Cemeteries, cameras and lanterns, oh my!

Just another day in the life of Sherri! October 4th found me "posing" for a photography class as a light fog and mist enveloped the hills around us. Mark Romano's photography class from the New River college needed a spooky prop in the cemetery and I guess that meant I was "it."

One of my favorite "trick" photos that my Grandpa Brake did

I grew up with my family in NE Ohio in a home where we had a darkroom in the basement. My dad was a avid photographer and did it mostly as a hobby, but he did do a record album cover for a local singer in Canton Ohio back in the 1980s. My Grandpa Brake was as a photographer as well and was with the first unit of army photographers to visit Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. Grandpa Brake had a photo studio in Webster Springs WV and ran it for about 20

 years. Anyway, I'm a sucker for anything dealing with photography, nighttime and cemeteries so of course I said "yes" to Marks query as to whether I would help him out with his photography class.

Cemeteries occasionally make people a bit leery, even during daylight hours. Not me! I remember our parents hauling us around Webster County WV many summers ago. They would stick us all in the back of a pick up truck and we would go visit family cemeteries. Sometimes we would sit on the tailgate or cemetery ground and have lunch, snacks, or a maybe just a bottle of pop. We would walk the cemetery, hear about our ancestors and clean some graves. Pulling back vines, brushing off dirt and walking the hillsides of many cemeteries perhaps added to my adult interest and love of the "Silent Cities of the Dead".

When Mark approached me about posing for his students and helping them learn how to use their cameras at night and on various settings, I thought of two places locally in Summersville that would be good back drops. The Walker Cemetery and the Southern Methodist Episcopal Cemetery by the Moose Club downtown.

This photo was taken by Pam Mace and was shot in the old Methodist cemetery next to the Moose Lodge in downtown Summersville. This cemetery is the one we venture into on our Haunted History Walks of Summersville. Love the lighting!

Another eerie photo shot by Pam Mace. This was up on the hill as you first arrive into the Walker Cemetery in Summersville WV. The sky was perfect early on and shows up well in some of the early evening shots. All that is missing is a full moon!

Pam captured an image of me being reflected on the back of one of the headstones to the left. Do you see it?  This was taken at the Walker Cemetery in Nicholas County WV. I use the candle lanterns featured in the shots on my walking tours of town and my husband Perry make them for us to sell as well. They have a great ambiance at night, don't they?

This is another shot taken at the Methodist Church cemetery in Summersville. There are many variations of markers in this cemetery. Recumbent, table top tombs, new England style, hollow metal markers and victorian symbolism is present on many.

This is the simple headstone for a child who dies in 1860. Lambs represent innocence, the Lamb of God and purity in children. I took this photo this past summer as I strolled through the cemetery researching the stones for my walking tours.

New England style markers usually represent those who moved into the area from the NE area of the United States. In this cemetery in Summersville you can see a few of these all carved from local sandstone. The stones can be compared to human torsos as they have "heads" and "shoulders".

Malvina Kelly's marker as been snapped in half and lies propped up against a tree trunk towards the backside of the cemetery.

The grave of Margaret Dotson taken during the day....

and then one at night....

This was taken by Pam Mace during the photo shoot. Assistant Rick is standing at the head of the grave while I am sitting on the table tomb.

Thank you to Mark Romano of Images by Romano for letting me share in the class expedition!

More haunted blogs to come this week.....

Spirits of Summersville West Virginia

The Spirits of Summersville West Virginia??

 I suppose some would argue and say such a modest town like this would not have much dark history or ghostly tales to offer up.  When you drive around thru the area, you see the beautiful mountains on the horizon, the winding creeks and rivers, the curvy mountain roads and the busy traffic of the downtown area. Chain hotels, rafting companies, the New River Gorge area, Summersville Lake and the many restaurants and tourist activities give this area a vacation like feel all year round. What's so spooky about that?

The Summersville Courthouse

Since I moved to Nicholas County West Virginia over a year ago, my research on ghosts in the mountain state has become nearly an obsession. I am digging at the archives in Charleston, I'm grabbing every book I can at libraries and in gift shops, I'm talking to the locals and hanging out in cemeteries stalking the caretakers for stories! 

The Cemetery we venture into on our walking tour of Summersville

 It seems the more I dig, the more bizarre stuff I find and it's not only the folklore but the dark history that just keeps coming and coming! Take for instance the photo of the courthouse above. To many people it's just a courthouse...and a pretty cool looking one I have to agree. Dig a little bit and you find out that a dangerous female spy was captured during the Civil War and was held here. Dig more and you find that while captured in 1862, she charmed a her guard, took his gun and shot and killed him in cold blood. She escaped from her prison only to come back later with several hundred Confederates who stormed the town of Summersville wreaking havoc.

Nancy Hart, Confederate Heroine or Spy

(Depends on what side you are on!)

Dig some more and you find a story of a man and woman who fell in love at the courthouse many years ago. She was a prisoner and he was not. He helped hide her in coffin in the basement of the courthouse to aid in her escape only to have plans go very wrong and they both die. It is said that the eerie sounds of the courthouse bell can be heard echoing a death toll for the lovers lost.

Summersville Courthouse Bell Tower

On the edge of the lawn of the courthouse stands a solemn monument to one of the many Indian Massacres that dot the dark fabric of the quilt of this areas history. The Morris Massacre took place in May of 1792.

Daughters of Henry Morris were attacked and scalped just west of Summersville on their farm on Peters Creek. This monument declares this incident to be the last of the Indian massacres in what is now West Virginia. The story itself has been handed down thru the generations and is quite graphic. We will tell this story on our Haunted History Walks of Summersville WV which debut this fall.

Looking at the courthouse and its well manicured  lawn, it may be hard to grasp the fact that there once stood a pillory and stockade on the grounds. People were whipped in public, had their ears pinned, and were locked in the stockade as punishment for various crimes. Typical punishment for stealing in the first offense was 30 lashes with a whip. You can imagine what was given to repeat offenders! Many villages and towns across the frontier of Western Virginia dealt out their punishments in front of the courthouses until some form of centralized justice was organized at the state level.

History ain't always pretty. You can almost guarantee that any town, village, vacant building or cemetery has a dark story just waiting to be unearthed. Summersville has much to offer in many respects. History lovers, folklore enthusiasts, and ghost hunters will enjoy it immensely!

To view our page on The Haunted History Walks of Summersville West Virginia

Click here

To view our page on West Virginia's Haunted History

Click here

Till next blog.....happy hauntings!