Tuesday, June 9, 2009
I have noticed that one of the side affects of taking a class on graveyards and cemeteries is my often speaking of it with everyone that happens to mention the words graveyard or cemetery in my presence. I have also noticed that people my age tend to respond to my saying “I’m taking a graveyards class” with something along the lines of “Wow, that sounds creepy.” However, older people usually have slightly different responses. Both my parents as well as others from their generation are typically less put off my graveyards, and in fact, often have many stories about teenage romps in the graveyards around their former homes. It was one such person from this generation that informed me of two lesser known graveyards in Warwick.
My boss, Paul Lynch, has lived in Warwick his entire life. On Monday, June 8th as we were traveling back from work together we were talking about my class. He asked if I would be interested in seeing two graveyards that he knew of, and I jumped at the opportunity. We first traveled to Cowessett Rd in Warwick to the grounds of the Little Rhody Beagle Club were Lynch is a member. The Beagle Club owns several dozen acres between Cowessett Rd and Centerville Rd. While most of this land is softly rolling and used for the training of Beagles, to the right of the main entrance was a small, tree covered hill that stood apart from the rest of its surroundings. All around the hill was thorny brush and dense shrubbery.
We trooped through the brush working our way up the hill. Lynch explained that the entire area around the hill used to be occupied by trees, but about ten years back everything had been cleared away. As little had been done to keep the new clearing open, it is now slowly being taken back by nature. Lynch told me stories of he and his friends spending evenings drinking beer in the graveyard, or running dogs throughout the surrounding acres. As we reached the top of the hill, I could see tripartite stones sticking up from the shrubs and brush. Lynch gestured to where an iron fence once stood but is now missing. I assume the fence was added in the nineteenth century even without seeing it.
On the very top of the hill are several tripartite stones, almost all of them containing the willow tree and urn in the tympanum. These are all slate stones of a dark green/blue color. As I look upon the dates I note that they almost entirely date from the last half of the eighteenth century. Slightly set apart from these stones are marble ones, grouped together on a slightly lower area. The marble stones show the most signs of wear, being almost completely illegible. Dense greenery covers the ground, and as I move about I see field stones dotting the ground. I also tripped on several flattened stones as I moved about the uneven ground. This site was extremely neglected, and unrecognizable from its golden days I am sure.
The yard is listed as the Gideon Spencer lot on the City of Warwick website. Gideon Spencer is listed as being the farmer on whose land the yard was established. This was most likely his families resting place, perhaps even other local farmers. The fact that it is so badly weathered makes me angry, especially as it sits on well manicured and maintained grounds.
The weather was dreary this day, and we thought it best not to linger longer than twenty minutes on this spot incase the rain came down. We headed down Cowessett road and took Post Rd to Tollgate Rd. Near Lynch’s childhood home sits Historical Cemetery 23, listed online as the General George Sears Greene Lot. This site, as the first one, sits atop a hill higher than the rest of the general area around it. From the road a large granite staircase would take you to the site if it were not almost completely covered by brush. Instead we climbed a steep sandy path to the yard. There was once an iron fence around the site, and half of it lies on the ground. Lynch exclaimed that the standing fence had recently been restored, and he wondered when someone had worked on it.
This site was shaded and somewhat maintained with over 50 marked stones dotting the landscape. The oldest stone I could locate was a slate one from 1796 with the newest stone dating from 1966. Beyond a handful of slate stones, there was an even number of marble as granite. There was no family tie that united all the stones, rather row after row of different families seemed to be represented here. The largest grouping of family members belonged to that of General Greene, with ten member of his family having stones clustered around a large obelisk erected in his name. Nearby was the general’s grave marked by a large granite stone with a saber etched across the top. These were the most expensive markers in the yard, painting the picture of a modest public graveyard. I was unable to take pictures of this site as the cell phone I used in the site earlier had died.
