This is a selection on the Hunt for an Abandoned Cemetery from the JUNE 2018 Edition of “The Cemetery Detective” Fan Club Newsletter.
Fan Club subscription fees help Keith with expenses associated with his cemetery research, documentation, and cleanup efforts.
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A One Hour Abandoned Cemetery Hunting Trip
I speed away from the city for lunch,
venturing deep into rural Tennessee.
Onto an abandoned government road.
Ducking beneath a locked barricade.
Asphalt gives way to the constant creep of nature.
I scramble through brambles.
Briars cling to my clothing as if to grasp and keep me for their own.
Pricks and thorns dig into my skin as if to taste the pinprick drops of blood they elicit.
Clawing my way through scrub so dense a fox would not venture even if trying to outwit a pack of hounds, I am not deterred from my destination.
I find myself in an aromatic thicket of honeysuckle swarmed by bees.
Non-threatening buzzing alerts me to their presence.
They mind me not. I mind them not.
Honeysuckle gives way to field daisies.
Field daisies give way to periwinkle.
And, as nature opens up, I find my quest.
There, beyond the confines of an imperfectly laid stone wall, a single grave marker rises above the dense greenery.
I stand amazed at the splendor.
Transfixed by what I have found.
But, alas, a bee’s buzz and strong wafting honeysuckle fragrance
reminds me; lunch is almost over, I must get back to the city.
2018 Keith Harper
From The Cemetery Detective Newsletter June 2018
The Cemetery Detective Fan Club
