Visit to Stonewall Jackson Cemetery by Ali Burner

I thought the visit to the Stonewall Jackson Cemetery today was very interesting. I have driven by it many times, but never thought to go in. One of the things that I was most surprised at was the difference in size between the gravestones. There were many small ones that got lost among the others. Some of them I did not even think were grave markers until I got up close enough to see that there were worn names written across them. I imagine the disparities in size had to do with the economic and social standing of the families, but I found it interesting that they were all mixed in together. I have seen in other cemeteries a physical separation between the rich side and the poor side, where all of the large monuments are grouped together and the smaller ones are placed in a different area. 

 

I was also struck by the confederate flags that were put at the foot of many of the graves, and the lemons around Jackson’s monument. Many of them seemed new, so obviously people must have come recently to leave these offerings at the graves.

I also found this grave stone particularly interesting, because it had a shroud and wreath carved into the stone. These are things that I would imagine people would come to place on the grave in a ritual form of remembrance, but here they are permanently adorned on the memorial. This set this marker apart from all the others, as I did not see anything else like it in the rest of the cemetery. 

This mausoleum also stood out from the other graves. Unlike the grouping of the Jackson family, this type of memorial houses the members of the family together in the same structure. It was interesting to see how different families were grouped together and how their relations to each other were noted on the graves.