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The Old Burying Ground | Beaufort, North Carolina
In preparation for Halloween, a friend and I visited the Old Burying Ground in Beaufort, NC last week. The oldest cemetery, in North Carolina’s third oldest town, was established in the early 1700’s with the oldest legible grave stone dating to 1756. The oldest part of the cemetery was also, to me, the most interesting and best to photograph. It was not only very crowded, but overgrown and spooky looking. Peeking into the brush that had grown up around the trees, you could see more grave markers, long forgotten. A little known fact that I learned was that most of the grave sites face east, as the families of those buried there in the early years wanted their loved ones to face the rising sun on the morning of judgement day.
Some notable, and creepy, grave sites:
- Vienna Dill (1863-1865): Died of yellow fever and was buried in a glass topped casket. The child would later be exhumed by vandals and reburied after her body ‘disintegrated’ upon opening of the casket.
- An officer in the British Navy who died in port at Beaufort. He was buried standing up, facing England and saluting the King.
- A mass grave in which the sailors of the ‘Cassie Wright’ are buried. They froze to death in January 1886 when their ship ran aground.
- A little girl who died at sea during a voyage from England with her father. He had promised her mother that he’d return her home safely, however she died at sea. Rather than being buried at sea, she was preserved in a barrel of rum so that she could be returned home, as promised. Her grave site is distinguishable because of the pile of toys and gifts that visitors leave there.
- Captain Otway Burns, great privateer during the War of 1812. He sailed from Nova Scotia to South America, plundering British ships all the way. His tomb is marked by a canon from his ship, The Snapdragon.
There are many others buried here including soldiers of the American Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War, as well as a grave marked “Here lies the remains of the settlers killed in the Tuscarora Indian War; September 1711.”
On my visit, the sun was bright and the sky was cloudless. I can imagine that as conditions change, the Old Burying Ground changes as well. I’m looking forward to visiting again with some more dramatic light to shoot!
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