Tombstone Tuesday - Lot Lines

Instead of focusing on a single stone, today's photos show a substantial number of lot lines. I took these photos in Oakwood Cemetery, Braidwood, Will County, Illinois. The cemetery started burials in the 1860's. Most of the original inhabitants are miners and their families from England, Scotland, and Ireland who settled here when coal was first located.

If you obtain records from a cemetery, they often mention the lot owner and burials. Many rural cemeteries in the Midwest still have the small lot markers in the corners, which are about the size of a fist. Not often do you see large barriers like these. Here in Oakwood Cemetery, many of the original lots are still outlined by cement lot lines. There are, unfortunately, not nearly as many gravestones visible in them, especially in the oldest lots.

This family lot not only has a border but also pillars which probably held a chain. They rather look like sentinels now, watching over the family.

© 2013 Sally Knudsen