Photo Friday: There Be Pirates Here?

In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day this past week, here's a little story from one of the last times my daughter and I went graveyard hopping, over Labor Day weekend at the vast Greenwood Cemetery in Virginia, St Louis County, Minnesota.  

We were being very silly, walking along and looking for my second great grandma's grave, and sort of calling out "Shaw?" "Shaw?" as though Grammie Shaw might answer us to tell us where she was.   (We were quite alone, and never, never mean any disrespect).  (Alas, we still haven't found Grammie Shaw, though I know she's there). 

We love to look at a tombstone and try to imagine who the person was, what they did, what their life was like, etc.  We came across this little 6" x 6" square with only the letter "R" on it.  Lauren said, "Well that doesn't tell you anything about the person!  First name or last name?  Who were they?"  I said, "Well it does tell you their occupation - isn't it obvious?  They were a pirate!  Arrrr!"  Oh, so silly.  

A little later we came across another 6" x 6" stone with just a "T" on it.  Then we found another at another corner of the grave and another and another... oh!  We figured out the little stones marked the edge of the family's plot.  We'd never seen that before.  (And I guess there were no pirates in inland northern Minnesota anyway, maties!) 

So we learned something new.  Have you seen these little square stones with the family initial to mark off the family plots?  Is that common?  How else have you seen the boundaries of family plots marked off?  Let me know in the comments below!

  

And yes, I know it's not really Friday for Photo Friday... I'm late.  You'll find I take quite a lot of liberties like that.  Hope you enjoyed nonetheless!