South Burying Ground

A Halloween treat from RubDMC. I'm working again tomorrow (tonight?), and since death is a very real possibility for many of our patients we kind of downplay the whole thing. But anywho here's a quick snap of one of our charming town burying grounds, know as the 'South Burying Ground.' It's only a couple hundred yards (and clearly within view) from the 'North Burying Ground,' but the explanation's an interesting one. Each lies on its own side of a stream called 'The Milldam.' In early colonial times dead bodies could not be transported across moving water - so anyone who died south of the Milldam was buried in one graveyard, while anyone who died north of the Milldam was buried in the other. The South Burying Ground is small, and bounded by Main Street. North is on a hillside, and was later expanded into Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which includes Authors' Ridge where Emerson, Thoreau, and others are buried.