Brooklyn Cemetery

In Brooklyn, Connecticut, there is an interesting cemetery next to the fair grounds on Rte. 169 (Canterbury Rd.). It's one of those small-town burying grounds where the earliest dated stone is from 1741 and the most recent is less than two months old.

I don't venture into modern cemeteries very often, so I was a little surprised by the modern stones in Brooklyn. I knew that people get laser-etched stones, but I had never seen one that was both laser-etched and colorized. These pictures aren't the best — I say that all the time, but this time it's for a new reason: I didn't realize that the modern stones were so reflective, so you can see my reflection in some of them. The Clifford and Frances Green stone (2001) features an olde-tyme winter skating scene complete with decorated Christmas trees and wreaths on the lampposts. I wonder what made Frances and Clifford choose this scene. Did it remind them of their childhoods? Did they collect Christmas figurines? I don't know, but I've never seen anything like it.










Other recent stones also include rural scenes. The Levola stone (2003) shows a rocky farm with silos, deer, and stony mountains in the background.
The farm picture on the Blanchette/Harrison stone (2008) is less sophisticated, but just as rural. Brooklyn is still a rural community, so it's possible that the Levolas, Blanchettes, and Harrisons were all really farmers, but it's possible that they just found the scenes peaceful.

Other residents of Brooklyn chose to adorn their gravestones with personal interests. Shaun Fredrick's family put a picture of his Harley on his gravestone. Josephine Courcy's stone (1991) attests to her love of Elvis.

Now that I know that modern stones have interesting images, I may spend some more time in more recent cemeteries. Though, I guess, it is a little weirder to photograph modern stones than it is to photograph historic stones.