Welcome to Part 2 of Day 5 and Welcome to Maine. Our first stop was at the Old Burying Yard in York also known as the Old Parish Cemetery.
This cemetery dates back to the 17th century. It’s surrounded by a low stone wall with one has a special tenant - a grave of a witch. Mary Nasson died on August 18, 1774. To memorialize her, her husband Samuel had an image of her carved on the crown of the gravestone. It depicts Mary, or at least her upper half, as a loosely berobed woman with bugged eyes, a thin nose, a slightly upturned mouth, and a humped hairdo. Her epitaph simply states that she was a loving mother and wife, and her husband looks forward to when his dust can “mingle” with hers. The people of York claimed her to be a witch, a legend that popped up decades after Nasson's death. The legend arose because weighing down the sod of her grave is a granite slab, which, according to the later lore, was laid down as an attempt to keep Nasson from rising from it. Funny how these stories happen. Mary is still popular today as people from all around visit the grave and place items on the grave.
Up the road in Bangor, we came to the scariest part of the whole vacation - the former home of Stephen King! It was actually way cool and worth the detour!
Not far from the former King estate is the Mount Hope Cemetery.
Stephen King Connection: While not buried there, King often visited the cemetery for inspiration. He reportedly borrowed names from headstones—such as "Carrie" and "Georgie" (from George Tasker Blunt) —for his novels.
Film Location: The cemetery was a primary filming location for the 1989 movie adaptation of King's Pet Sematary, in which King himself made a cameo as a minister.
It is an interesting cemetery with some interesting things that are not graves like the Webber Waiting Room which allowed visitors to get out of the rain and wait it out.
Next is the Hill Mausoleum
The Amanda Skofield Memorial is one of the cemeteries most photographed monuments
Fannie aka Nancy Jones purchased a lot at the cemetery before her death in 1909. She was Bangor’s most well known Madam. She has no marker and is thought to be somewhere near this child’s grave.
A bit more modern and placed in early 1960’s as a Civil War Memorial for a Regiment of Volunteers that died in 1915.
Not much hiking today as we spent most of our time driving. We arrived at our AIRBNB on Verona Island just before dark. A big back yard with deer running about and beautiful accommodations!
No comments:
Post a Comment