Story Wisps

Linda Burton posting from Charleston, West Virginia – A good story wisp makes you want to know more. Cemeteries are filled with story wisps; a row of children that died within days of each other – was it a terrible fever that struck? Or an accident? How did a mother manage her grief after such a loss? As I drove through the historic Old Circle section of Spring Hill Cemetery, high on a hill overlooking Charleston, I wondered about the death of Chloe V Fry, buried in her 25th year. Her marker, a beautiful obelisk with handcarved roses at the top, dates to 1830, when her husband James had it erected with these words “that he may record here that she was an affectionate and devoted wife, a kind and charitable neighbor, a watchful and tender mother, a dutiful daughter and a Christian, sincere, resigned, and patient, with the hope that her children may come to it as to the shrine of virtue and resolve ‘to go and do likewise.’” Did those children regularly visit their mother’s grave? Did this symbol of honor and respect color the lives they went on to live? A story wisp. I’d stopped at the cemetery office first to get some history of Spring Hill Cemetery; Glenna gave me a map outlining the sections that spread over 150 acres of hills and valleys; 40,000 graves they have recorded, but there are more. It’s listed on the National Register as a Historic Place; the earliest graves go back to 1818; it has been owned by the City of Charleston since 1869. The cemetery tells the history of Charleston, in wisps. Glenna showed me notebooks she is assembling to expand the stories; like me, she is intrigued to know more. I share a few with you. » read more