19.11.12

my morning at blanchard



Though I've been driving down this country highway for years, I only just caught sight of Blanchard Cemetery last winter. It's quite hidden, nestled high upon a ridge and nearly out of sight from the road, and the path leading to it is close to entirely overgrown. The newest headstones I found here dated to the 1850s, while the majority were 1770s-1820s. Imagine, buried here are some of the first Europeans to settle the Vermont woods! Today pasture land spreads all around, and dairy farms dot the hillsides... all thanks to the hardy pioneers who now lie in rest at Blanchard.






Here's one of the lovely hilltop meadows adjacent to the cemetery. Odds are good that the farmer who originally cleared this land is now over in Blanchard, too. (Perhaps he was even of the surname Blanchard!)







{ 1950s squaredancing dress from eBay.
1940s suit jacket found for $8 at the thrift shop.
My trusty li'l U.S. Army sack was $5 at an antique shop, dated 1941 inside! }


By the by, I have many more detailed pictures of the gravestones up on my abandoned house blog... you can see 'em right here. There are some really cool examples of early folk art carvings; do take a look!!

12 comments:

  1. I love your dress! Dreamy! And those super old tombstones. I'd like to be buried (well, when the time comes) somewhere out in the wild like that.

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  2. You always find the nicest places for your photos! And your outfit looks amazing, as always!

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  3. Old cemeteries have long called out to me, too. Not per se because of their obvious spooky/Halloween connotations, as much as that they appeal to my history and genealogy loving side. Even though I know that all of the names will be of strangers, I can't help but feel like after a few minutes in an old grave yard, the names around you begin to feel a bit like like those of old friends - or at least, perhaps, like people who could very well have been part of your family tree at one distant point.

    ♥ Jessica

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  4. Wow! How cool! I, too, love cemeteries, and you look super cute while you're strolling through this one!

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  5. We have been doing a lot of cemetery hunting lately...I wish ours were as historic and spooky as yours! AWESOME!!!

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  6. fantastic photos! That dress is ADORABLE!

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  7. what an awesome place. I love the pictures and your outfit.

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  8. Ooh, I love interesting old cemeteries, and the photos of it and you visiting it are perfect. It's so rare to see things that we think of as truly OLD in the U.S. as compared to Europe, so it's extra special to see gravestones from the 1700s!

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  9. You look like the adorable heroine in a 1920s spooky silent movie, what a beautiful and eerie place that cemetary is.

    Emalina
    www.kikiandthegypsy.blogspot.co.uk

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  10. You dress so impeccably! I am so incredibly jealous of your wardrobe! Vermont looks beautiful, it's hard to find good places for photographs in Liverpool.

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  11. What beautiful places you have to explore! I love that dress too.

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  12. Oh how cool. I wonder if any of my husband's relatives are at Blanchard.... seeing as our last name is Blanchard and all. :) I an fascinated by old grave markers. These are fantastic!

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