Thursday, February 17, 2011

Cedar Hill Lagniappe

One of my favorite places in Vicksburg to explore and photograph is a beautiful old cemetery called Cedar Hill. I have written several posts featuring some of the magnificent monuments there, and no matter how many times I visit the cemetery, I find new and interesting things (to me, anyway) to capture with my camera.

(If you would like to read some of my previous posts, you can click on the links at the bottom of this post.)

I was in the cemetery a couple of days ago to take some pictures for a recent post (A House Under Siege), and here are a few things that caught my attention ...

I love old iron fences and was sad to see the remnants of this one literally being claimed by the earth.

I love this old bench that was sitting under a tree in a family plot, high on a hill.

And the sweet inscription on this stone, which was in the plot where the bench was, tugged at my heart ...

This brick is part of an old brick wall, and I wondered about its origin.

I "googled" Tanner bricks, Vicksburg, and discovered that the J. D. Tanner Brick Manufacturing plant in Vicksburg, was established about 1880. The bricks were manufactured by "the soft-mud process," and were molded by hand! Don't you just love Google! It is an invaluable and unlimited fountain of information and history for me in my never-ending quest to tell "the rest of the story."

And speaking of which, I would love to know about the family who loved and lost their twin sons on the day of their birth that September day in 1907. I love the inscription on the stone ...

I so wanted to put this stone back together ...

I truly think I could spend an entire day in Cedar Hill Cemetery and be perfectly content. I especially want to visit the "Soldiers' Rest" section of the cemetery, which is the final resting place for an estimated 5,000 Confederate soldiers who died of sickness or wounds during the Siege of Vicksburg.

We have been enjoying several days of spring-like weather here in Vicksburg, so perhaps I can take a day next week and explore Soldiers' Rest. Wish you could go with me!

Previous posts featuring Cedar Hill:

The Monuments of Cedar Hill

In the Arms of the Angels

Forever in Stone

Fences and Finials

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So beautiful. The monuments made me a tad teary eyed.

The ironwork is beautiful. I love that you photographed the fence. Amazing!

Unknown said...

Hi Janie,
I always enjoy your photo tours of areas around Vicksburg. Don't think I've been here.

I too am loving this beautiful weather!

:)

Loui♥ said...

good morning Janie..
another delightful post..
beautiful photos!!
thanks for sharing!!
warmest hugs..
Loui♥

RachelD said...

Oh, the fence! And the broken stone!! And the inscription and the stone of the Twin Sons are still as bright and beautiful as their passage from Mother right into Heaven.

Kristie said...

I love seeing all your pictures and information about rural MS. My husband's family is from Yazoo, about an hour north of Vicksburg. His great grandmother had a cotton farm.

Tonja said...

Such beautiful inscriptions on those stones! My grandparents are buried in a very old cemetary in NC, and I love to stroll through and look.

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

LOL, my DH things I am crazy cause I love visitng old Cemeteries and taking pictures. But he does love to read the inscription on the older ones. I love the ones you found.