St. Marys has been an enjoyable stopover despite a lack of sunshine and warmth. We spend our mornings knocking the easy stuff off our to-do list, then dinghy into town either for lunch or mid-afternoon coffee and some wifi. On days when it isn’t bone-chilling we head off in one direction or another to feel around the edges of town.
One of my favorite destinations is the beautiful Oak Grove Cemetery.
This place is really special. It was laid out in 1788 and chronicles the history of a little town, not just in the inscriptions on the headstones but also in the way time and nature have left their mark on the slabs.
Family groups are protected by low brick walls, something I haven’t seen anywhere else.
There’s a special section of Acadians who ended their long journey from Grand Pre to Saint-Domingue to their final resting place on the St. Mary’s River.
I love these old cemeteries because the memorials often have biographical information beyond the names and dates. If you zoom in to the photo above, and if you read French, you learn a lot about the family. On the other hand I found these two intriguing markers without names or dates.
I love that there is a stile on one wall of the cemetery, and it reminds me of the nursery rhyme our Mom recited to us:
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
On the way back to the dock we ran into a man taking his pet ferret home for the holidays from the school where he teaches. The ferret spends the week in his classroom and goes home every weekend. He was very friendly and let me pet him.
On Saturday morning there was a nice farmers market and we bought enormous carrots (real carrots, the vendor told me) and local honey, along with some white sweet potatoes, which are actually purple. I find that confusing.
Every once in a while we come across Christmas decorations and remember, oh yeah! It’s the holidays!
The photo of the stone commemorating the Acadians is fascinating, Marce, especially since I am now sitting at my desk in our home in Grand Pre. I was very interested to learn that the friend of a fictional character – “Evangeline” – is buried there. Just goes to show what wordsmiths are capable of creating.
I thought of you when I saw the Grand Pre connection. I’m always interest in anything to do with Saint-Domingue (Haiti) because one branch of my family also lived there and left during the “troubles politique.” My family evacuated to St. Thomas instead of Louisiana, otherwise I’d be a Cajun today. BTW I also love the metaphoric use of Evangeline on the plaque. And what do we get on today’s headstones? Something like “Robert Jones 1925-1982.” Drives us family historians crazy!