Welcome to The Pauley Principle!

The Pauli Principle, named for Wolfgang Pauli, deals with atoms and electron-sharing that results in new, stronger bonds. Think 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, a shared delectable (!) electron and VOILA! Water!

Similarly, when you prepare whole food to share with family and friends, especially foods you've grown, something amazing happens. Meals become tastier and healthier. Your soul, not just your stomach, becomes fulfilled. You live life more abundantly as a result. During a shared meal, the bonds that people create grow stronger and become something new: GREATER than the sum of the parts! I give you The Pauley Principle.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Connecting Past to Present in a Pioneer Cemetery

Jessi, making rubbings that helped to establish identity and dates.
My cousin Stephanie, her husband Dave, and my daughter Jessi recently went trekking to a grown-over pioneer cemetery. No road access meant we had a 3/4 mile trek through a soybean field up a knoll to the 2-acre enclosed cemetery. Not only was it fenced in, but totally surrounded by briars and thorny honey locust trees, like something out of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.

Stephanie and Dave, capturing this moment in time. Me, capturing them.

Dave, unearthing a forgotten headstone.
I had wanted to find this place ever since I heard about it several years ago. The cemetery had been shrouded in mystery but would hold clues from our past that would give us a keener understanding of our ancestors' lives, and it was situated on the very land where they lived!
Some headstones were small but ornate.

Some of the monuments toppled from their own weight and the ravages of time and weather.

Some had writing that was still  somewhat legible.
This crag of a tree speaks to the long-forgotten area.


Around thirty of our ancestors found their final resting places there, where now it appears to be an abandoned flower garden, overgrown with Solomon's Seal, Wild Columbine, Day Lilies, Violets, and Nettles. More flowers, but I've forgotten them. Our focus was on finding downed headstones and monuments, covered over with moss, lichens and dirt, and then connecting that person with our lives, our family tree. 

Solomon's Seal was prevalent and, I thought, fitting since this was on the original 400 acre land grant that my great great grandfather Solomon Salmon received after his Revolutionary War service. I know, there should be 6 or 7 greats before "grandfather" but our family tended to have children later in their lives!



6 comments:

  1. How fantastic and special to be able to explore such a beautiful place so filled with history!

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    1. Each find was a treasure! The day came together for us as if a magical spell had been cast to lead us and show us.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks, Lisa! I didn't try to capture the wildflowers but I should have, along with the thorny surroundings along the old but sturdy fence. There's not even a gate to allow entrance.

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  3. What a find! So personal too. Neat how she was doing a rub. I never thought of that.

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    1. The rubs helped immensely! Sometimes when we stepped back, the names just popped out at us. Other times, the camera would reveal things because of the angle of the flash that our eyes could not detect. Another thing, Michaele, that we almost took, and should have, was chalk to color in depressions.

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