What we see on our Maine road-less-traveled walks

Apr. 192020

In the midst of rapidly changing directives surrounding the cononavirus response, more people are taking walks around the roads less traveled — or even the roads well traveled. Avoiding frost heaves and the occasional pothole, there are bound to be views one doesn’t see or note while driving or even biking. Here are a few from a recent stroll.

This cemetery received some much-needed TLC within the last 10 years, but the ravages of wind, rain, snow and sun have taken a bit of a toll on the hard work done by those who restored it. This cemetery is an example of a family burial plot, usually placed near the homestead, where all family members would be buried together.

Readers, do you know where this is? [Answer is at the bottom].

The entrance frames two of the more prominent gravestones belonging to George and Weltha (Johnson) French. Also referred to as headstones and tombstones, their importance is linked to honoring loved ones who have passed away from earthly life.
George French was four months old when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
These are some of the saddest moments when visiting cemeteries.
This close-up of the engraving on two-year-old T. Byron’s gravestone shows a broken flower bud fallen from the plant. There is much symbolism in gravestone carvings.
Another closeup of a young person’s headstone carving featuring a plant with a broken branch, symbolized the death of an infant or a young person.
This tombstone is for both Church Pratt Leavitt and his wife Mary, who outlived him by 21 years. During the Victorian era, 1837-1901, more elaborate monuments and gravestones began to appear and popular materials included marble, wood, iron and granite.
Does anyone know if Blanchard Ramsdell Jr. served in the Civil War?

ANSWER: The Olde French Cemetery sits in a sunny spot on Wilson Hill Road in Turner. For a complete list of those buried here, click here.

If any of our readers can supply some biographical information on the people buried here, we would love to hear from you.

(Linda Galway photos)

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