Cemetery Safari: Moonstones

We passed by a small cemetery just south of Geneva NY as the sun was setting, and spotted a small chapel-like structure that seemed a bit worse for wear. A quick peek inside revealed spaces packed full of junk; the tight crawl inside didn't seem worth it. We wandered into the cemetery, which was full of deer, darting back into the woods upon our presence. Some of the stones almost began to glow as the moon rose... so we grabbed our cameras.

Glenwood Cemetery was opened in 1873; here is a poetic excerpt describing the first interment from the Geneva Gazette:

James A. Bradt is the first purchaser of a lot in "Glenwood", and upon him devolved the melancholy duty of providing for the first interment therein. His venerable grandmother -- relict of the late A. H. Bradt (a well-remembered grocer of former years in Geneva) -- is the first one to inhabit this new home for the dead. "Solitary and alone" stands the little mound of fresh-turned earth in this vast domain set apart for the departed. What a suggestive subject for the poet's pen. This event of a first burial in "Glenwood" deserves record by every citizen who keeps a diary. Let it be entered as occurring October 14th, 1873. How long this embryo city with its now single inhabitant shall be peopled by hundreds and thousands of permanent settlers?

Alas, not long. Many are still living among us who remember the first interment in Washington street cemetery - of the wife of Harvey Merrill, a former druggist of Geneva. That was only about 42 years ago, and now the graves are so many as almost to touch each other throughout the length and breadth of that domain of the dead - compelling the movement which has culminated in this opening of a new, more extensive and most beautiful home for the departed. Source

I believe the Bradt grave mentioned therein is leaning in the photograph below:

Some light trails can be seen snaking through the photos as the three of us moved around with our flashlights in the darkness. A curious cluster of star trails can be seen in the upper left corner of this last photo:

Photographs taken in March 2006, 2-6 minute exposures.