Friday, July 24, 2009

A grave house in Tennessee

When I first saw this structure from a distance, I thought it was the roof for a maintenance shed or pump house. The Pettit Cemetery is on a hillside, and from the road all that's visible is the roof. It wasn't until I walked into the cemetery that it became clear it was a grave house, and a fairly recent one. There appear to be two traditional in-ground graves in the house, complete with markers, but I didn't feel comfortable flopping on to the ground* to shoot a photo through the gap between the foundation and the roof. The cemetery itself, the Pettit Cemetery is located in the Land Between the Lakes in Tennessee with Dover, Tennessee, being the nearest town (perhaps 15 miles away) of any size. It is a fairly typical rural family cemetery, with the usual mix of commercial stones. I'm always intrigued by grave goods, and there were a few examples. It's becoming increasingly clear that the dead collect angels, as I see them in a lot of cemeteries. Lady Lenz (black headstone) is kind of an exception in having raccoons.
[ *An aversion to chiggers and woodticks stopped me from even dropping to my knees.]

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