Saturday, July 28, 2012

In the Laurel Dale Cemetery at Rugby


Like the rest of Rugby, the grave yard remembers the past while serving the present. 

There are recent graves here but I was interested in the older ones.

I don't know the stories of the folks buried here --

Some are victims of a typhoid epidemic that swept through the colony . . .
 
My hosts told me that there is a  wonderful night time lantern tour where costumed characters stand by 'their' graves and tell their stories . . .

One story is told  in the character of a woman whose returning fiance was shot dead as he stepped off the train . . .
 
Benjamin Thomas Bensted was Rugby's first priest.

Margaret Hughes, the mother of the founder and the matriarch of the colony, lies here.
 
 

Little Grace lived a year and four days . . .

So many stories . . .
 
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15 comments:

Thérèse said...

There are bloggers interested in cemeteries, there are called taphopiles but not quite though when we look for the definition of the word.
A cemetery can only be a very moving place.

Unknown said...

Great post and pictures. This blog is a great combination of suitable and useful information and well-written sentences that will certainly attract your sense towards Cemetery memorial.

Ms. A said...

Beautifully aged stones that tell stories of days gone by and times vastly different from now.

I love the first one!

Miss_Yves said...

A sad, romantic and beautiful place, and the story of its "inhabitants" could become the subjects of a novel...
I'm interested in cemeteries.

Brian Miller said...

wow some pretty cool graves....they always tell a lot about a town...interesting on the typhoid...agree with miss yves, i think you have a story here...

June said...

I think I'd like the tour. I like cemeteries, and looking at the old stones but I WONDER so about the lives of the people on whom I'm walking.
A grave on which the stone was erected in 1855 . . . it's easy to imagine a mother, a brother, standing at the grave weeping . . . but what was the deceased like? ...what were the survivors' regrets?

Kath said...

Old cemeteries, such fascinating places. Our subdivision was tenant farms until relatively recently. There are supposedly seven family graveyards here. But Only two have been 'found'. Peaceful places.

Inger said...

Vicki, this is a lovely place. I have never heard of Rugby and now I want to visit. I went back and read all your posts from here and you are describing everything so eloquently with words and pictures. The library is wonderful and the churches, this graveyard, and, well, just everything. Thank you for this tour of a very special place.

Stella Jones said...

I didn't go to the graveyard when I visited Rugby so thank you for telling me about it. I will definitely go there next time. Would be great to take that night-time walk through. I'm sure that with such a small community, they must have been devastated when one of them died.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I would love to see that- (the story tellers).

jennyfreckles said...

I could spend hours browsing an old graveyard (sometimes do!) I like the idea of the characters 'coming to life' to tell their story.

Frances said...

Vicki, many thanks for all these Rugby posts. I would otherwise never have known about this place.

Even Mr. Google seems to not have too much of a clue. Perhaps because it is not a place of great commerce?

Best wishes. xo

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

There is just something so pretty about old graves and they all seem to have a story to tell, especially the markers of children with the lambs on them. Old markers make today's models seem so plain and drab, especially when they're decorated with bright plastic flowers.

I would love to go on the lantern tour. What a great idea.
Sam

Deanna said...

Cemeteries are fascinating. Especially old one like this. We were traipsing around somewhere yesterday, looking for ancestors.

Carol Murdock said...

There is something so sacred about old cemeteries. Great pictures!