#Sleepy hollow cemetery plus#

In the same year that Copeland delivered his address, The Usefull and The Beautiful, wedding his ideas of the naturalistic, organic garden design to Emerson's Transcendentalist principles, Copeland and Cleveland were engaged by the Concord Cemetery Committee, of which Emerson was an active member, to design the cemetery. Cleveland and Robert Morris Copeland, the design of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was inspired by the writings of romanticists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Her website Spiritual TravelsВ features holy sites around the world.Consecrated in 1855 and designed by Horace W. SheвЂ™s the author of the Near the Exit: Travels With the Not-So-Grim ReaperВ and Holy Rover: Journeys in Search of Mystery, Miracles, and God. Lori EricksonВ is one of AmericaвЂ™s top travel writers specializing in spiritual journeys. Main page for The Transcendentalist Trail Henry David ThoreauвЂ™s grave (Bob Sessions photo) Thoreau likely would complain about the waste of perfectly good writing utensils, but at the same time, I can imagine him being pleased that after all these years, his words still draw people here, to this quiet spot beneath tall trees.

#Sleepy hollow cemetery plus#

Scattered around the small stone were pencils and pens, plus scraps of paper on which people have written their favorite passages from his work. IвЂ™ve seen hundreds of such holy sites before, but I was surprised and moved by what people bring to ThoreauвЂ™s grave. His grave is obviously a pilgrimage site for many people, for like many holy sites itвЂ™s covered with tokens and offerings.

Nearby is a tiny marker that bears a single name: вЂњHenry.вЂќ In death, as in life, Henry David Thoreau doesnвЂ™t take up much real estate. When you approach it from a distance, you can see a large, impressive monument that bears the name вЂњThoreau,вЂќ but as you draw closer you realize that this is the family burial stone, filled with the names of his relatives. Of all the markers, it was ThoreauвЂ™s grave that brought tears to my eyes.

Louisa May AlcottвЂ™s grave (Bob Sessions photo) How appropriate that her time serving wounded soldiers is recognized in this way! Surely she paid a high price for her service, too, given how she suffered from the mercury treatments she received after she fell ill at the hospital. Louisa May AlcottвЂ™s is small as well, but I was pleased to see that it includes an American flag and a plaque identifying her as a veteran of the Civil War. Nathaniel HawthorneвЂ™s grave is much smaller, a modest marker that would likely meet approval from his stern Puritan ancestors. Its size recalls EmersonвЂ™s status-no oneвЂ™s going to ignore this monument as they walk through the cemetery-but it also reflects his love of nature and fondness for what is simple and unadorned. Ralph Waldo EmersonвЂ™s grave is marked by a massive boulder of uncut stone, a dramatic contrast to the neat rows of conventional grave markers that surround it. You can read a great deal into their grave markers, if youвЂ™re in a contemplative frame of mind as one strolls beneath the oaks and elms.