Pillars & Foundations

West Burying Ground, Lynnfield, Massachusetts Amazingly I was not able to find very much information on " West Burying Ground ," which is also apparently known as Main Street Cemetery. Other than a quick mention of a ceremony being held there on Memorial day , my internet searches didn't even produce a mention of what wars the veterans interred here may have fought in. I would speculate the battles could span from Revolutionary War, to War of 1812, and the Civil War with the 1813 date. But scanning through the details of the graves I'm finding many of the people laid to rest were born too close or late to likely have served in the Revolutionary War. There are two burial sites in close proximity in Lynnfield, both of which date relatively far back in the area's short history of British/non-native settlers. I will spend time discussing Lynnfield's "Old Burying Ground," which is logically (wait for it,) older in another post for another day...

Old Burying Ground, Stoneham, Massachusetts On a recent walk to escape the confines of the home amidst the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, I set out specifically to walk by this cemetery. I've been disappointed repeatedly that I'm not allowed to enter the grounds and get a closer look, however clearly this is to protect these stones, which largely are in excellent condition. Apparently some of them are quite ornate . This site is on the National Historic Register, hopefully I'll catch it one of these days when it is open. If so, I'll be sure to update this with the close up shots of some headstones. The Old Burying ground was said to be once in the town center of Stoneham, with a meetinghouse nearby. However today most of the construction around it is likely somewhat contemporary and the current town center is a few blocks away. Stoneham's website lists the cemetery as having veterans from 4 military conflicts, as well as other prominent historical figures ...

St. James's Church Piccadilly, London, UK During a brief trip to the UK last fall my wife and I spent some time roaming the streets of London and Edinburgh. I tried to pop into churches that had open doors when I had the time, and St. James was one such site we stumbled upon. At the time of our visit their yard was over run by a food truck festival, which I believe may have been a fund raiser. We explored a bit, however due to these circumstances my photographs are primarily limited to the interior as opposed to the outside architecture and grounds. Over the course of working on Pillars & Foundations, I began following several "Church Crawling," forums in social media, and through this I often heard of Sir Christopher Wren , famed architect of St. Paul's Cathedral (I also visited St. Paul for a choir recital, unfortunately they are very prohibitive with photography so I'm on the fence on whether I'll put together a post with the several exterior ...