Sunday, April 10, 2011

Day 43 - Mattie Washington

Saturday, April 9, 2011

There is a cemetery near us that I see everyday. It is on USMC property and I've always been curious about it. Recently they posted a plaque in the site that states that the graves here belong to some 134 family and church cemeteries that were moved when the land was acquired for Camp Lejeune back in 1941. Because the grave sites were segregated by color at this time, they also kept them segregated when they moved them. The cemetery near us belongs to the African American graves that were moved during this process. Most of the markers state "unknown" with a number and sometimes the name of the grave yard. I am not sure why they are unknown. A few headstones are still intact. Ms. Mattie Washington's headstone is one that is complete and legible. After taking this photo, I was curious so I did a quick search for her in Ancestry.com. I found her Death Certificate. She lived in Swansboro, NC and died at the age of 26 after having suffered Tuberculosis for six years. I took several photos at this cemetery I'll be posting more of them over the next few days.

Photo settings are: f/11, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

1 comment:

  1. Chrystal your images are ALWAYS so soothing and gentle to view!!! You have such a gift of photography!!! Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

    ReplyDelete