Sunshine at the Cemetery

My visit to Woodbine Cemetery is on a cloudless winter day that is cool but not cold. The sun feels good on my shoulders. This gravestone attracted my attention for a couple reasons. First, I cannot resist a gravestone with interesting lichens growing on it. I love the color it adds.

Secondly, there is just something about the name Fleischhauer that fascinates me. Not often you find a name with two H's in it... or else it is consistently misspelled (doesn't seem likely). But what really caught my attention here are the birth and death dates.

Given the state of things in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864, one expects to see more deaths and few births. Yet, this fellow was born in the midsts of this tragedy and survived to live until the next major tragedy was begun.

The Victorian-style memorials on this hillside are flanked in the distance on both east and west side with mountains. It is pleasant place for a final rest.

But, as expected, there are many here who had untimely deaths and came very young. This collection of metal markers indicates children of folks who had little money to memorialize their loss. The close grouping and similar, plain markers suggest some common tragedy befell these families. Yet, the dates in the1950's on them are not all the same. Perhaps these were children lost in a common place such as hospital, orphanage, or refuge for unwed mothers that put the markers here. Research is required to sort this one out.