{"id":6749,"date":"2011-08-29T10:29:57","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T16:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?p=6749"},"modified":"2011-08-29T10:29:57","modified_gmt":"2011-08-29T16:29:57","slug":"a-farewell-to-concord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2011\/08\/29\/a-farewell-to-concord\/","title":{"rendered":"A Farewell to Concord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We end our Holy Rover tour of Concord (finally!) at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the resting place of the authors whose lives and careers were so intertwined during the mid-nineteenth century. It\u2019s one of the most beautiful cemeteries I\u2019ve ever seen (and I\u2019m somewhat a connoisseur of graveyards, so that\u2019s saying something).<\/p>\n

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Ralph Waldo Emerson\u2019s grave at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One can read a great deal into their grave markers, if one is of a contemplative frame of mind as one strolls beneath the oaks and elms. Emerson\u2019s grave is marked by a massive boulder of uncut stone, a dramatic contrast to the neat rows of conventional grave markers that surround it. Its size recalls Emerson\u2019s status\u2014no one\u2019s going to ignore this monument as they walk through the cemetery\u2014but it also reflects his love of nature and fondness for what is simple and unadorned.<\/p>\n

Hawthorne\u2019s grave is much smaller, a modest marker that would likely meet approval from his stern Puritan ancestors. Louisa May Alcott\u2019s is small as well, but I was pleased to see that it includes an American flag and a plaque identifying her as a veteran of the Civil War. How appropriate that her time serving wounded soldiers is recognized in this way! Surely she paid a high price for her service, too, given how she suffered from the mercury treatments she received after she fell ill at the hospital.<\/p>\n

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Louisa May Alcott\u2019s grave (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of all the markers, it was Thoreau\u2019s grave that brought tears to my eyes. When you approach it from a distance, you can see a large, impressive monument that bears the name \u201cThoreau,\u201d but as you draw closer you realize that this is the family burial stone, filled with the names of his relatives. Nearby is a tiny marker that bears a single name: \u201cHenry.\u201d In death, as in life, Henry David Thoreau doesn\u2019t take up much real estate.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what touched me the most. His grave is obviously a pilgrimage site for many people, for like many holy sites it\u2019s covered with tokens and offerings. I\u2019ve seen hundreds of such holy sites before, but I was surprised and moved by what people bring to Thoreau\u2019s grave. Scattered around the small stone were pencils and pens, plus scraps of paper on which people have written their favorite passages from his work. How utterly perfect.<\/p>\n

Thoreau likely would complain about the waste of perfectly good writing utensils, but at the same time, I can imagine him being pleased that after all these years, his words still draw people here, to this quiet spot beneath tall trees.<\/p>\n

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Henry David Thoreau\u2019s grave (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We end our Holy Rover tour of Concord (finally!) at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the resting place of the authors whose lives and careers were so intertwined during the mid-nineteenth century. It\u2019s one of the most beautiful cemeteries I\u2019ve ever seen (and I\u2019m somewhat a connoisseur of graveyards, so that\u2019s saying something). One can read a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[294,404,514,528,560,607,653],"class_list":["post-6749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-concord","tag-henry-david-thoreau","tag-louisa-may-alcott","tag-massachusetts","tag-nathaniel-hawthorne","tag-ralph-waldo-emerson","tag-sleepy-hollow-cemetery"],"yoast_head":"\nA Farewell to Concord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We end our Holy Rover tour of Concord (finally!) at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the resting place of the authors whose lives and careers were so intertwined\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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