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May 31, 2006
Freeze Cemetery: Memorial Day
I may have mentioned that I've been driving up to the Coeur d'Alene Tribal School in DeSmet once a week to help with a reading the 7th and 8th grade class was doing. Between here and there, on a road that winds through endless beauty, I noticed a little, white church, set up on a hill. I decided to treat myself to a visit there on my way back after the reading last Tuesday.
That's when I discovered Freeze Cemetery. It's beautiful. Peaceful. Quiet. Stunning views. 100 + year-old graves. Beautiful little 100 year-old church.
On Memorial Day, I decided to go visit again. It seemed like the right thing to do. Besides, I'd promised myself I'd go back when I could take pictures.
It's still a busy little place. Though there are many 19th century graves, there are also graves as new as 2006. And family members came out on Memorial Day to pay their respects. While I was there, at least 7 different cars came and went from the parking lot. Remember, this is a small, remote, rural cemetery. Not the kind of place you expect to get a lot of traffic. There was also a couple walking through placing a small American flag at each soldier's grave, which I thought was a nice gesture. I took along a jam jar full of irises and daisies and some pretty orange flowers from my beds and left them.
And then, working very hard to be respectful of those who were grieving, I wandered through the cemetery and took pictures. I must say, if I believed in burial, Freeze Cemetery is the kind of place I'd want to be buried.
As you can see, the place is surrounded by fields. Just down the hill was a flock of ewes and lambs. I could hear a pheasant, though I never saw him, in the field pictured above. And a meadowlark. I realize now why poets describe their songs as liquid.
The above grave is so sad, nestled in the grass, hidden from most. So small, so precious. There are lots of graves for infants and children in this cemetery. It's heartbreaking.
And this fellow fought in the Civil War. I fiddled with the contrast to make the dates readable. I'm not sure I succeeded.
I've never found cemeteries frightening. I know a lot of people worry about ghosts/spirits/phantoms, call them what you will. But I've never noticed anything but peace and stillness in cemeteries. Maybe it's because I can't imagine a more boring place to spend eternity than with my slowly moldering body. If I get stuck and can't move on into the Hereafter, you can be sure I'll be making a nuisance of myself in a theatre somewhere, or in the spot where I died. I'm not going to follow my ashes to the rosebush where they're scattered.
This photo really gives a good sense of the peacefulness I'm talking about.
I'll go back out to Freeze Cemetery sometime. Sometime when I want peace and quiet and a place to sit and think and soak in some peace and beauty. It's a lovely spot. If Dave and I were to stay in Idaho, it's places like this that would tip the balance and make it happen.
Posted by sally at May 31, 2006 09:17 AM
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