As some of you may have noticed, a new page went up on the Mill Creek Hundred History Blog yesterday (I think that's what they call a "soft opening".) It's something that I've been wanting to do (or at least start) for quite a while now -- cemetery pictures. Here's what I wrote as a quick intro on the page:
One of the greatest resources we have for researching history and genealogy, or just for feeling a tangible link to the past, is cemeteries. Here in Mill Creek Hundred, we're fortunate to have several cemeteries that contain burials dating back to the 1700's, and which hold the final resting places of a large portion of the hundred's 18th and 19th Century residents. This page contains links to photos of many of their headstones. This is by no means a comprehensive catalog, and will be a work in progress for quite some time. If you have any corrections or additions to this collection, feel free to chime in on the Forum or email me directly.I've used pictures of headstones several times in a few different posts, sometimes because it's about all I had, but sometimes because it's a very real, physical link to a historical figure -- sometimes the only one we have. I've always thought that it would be neat, and very useful, to have a database of a lot of the historical gravesites in the area. What I plan on doing is going out and photographing as many old headstones as I can, so that I can post them for everyone to access. So far, I have a virtual stack of shots from White Clay Creek Presbyterian and a few from Red Clay. Over time, I'd like to get more from each of these, as well as from places like Ebenezer Methodist, St. James Episcopal, Stanton, Mill Creek and Hockessin Friends, Coffee Run, and a bunch more.
As I said, this here is just the start. This page will be kept as an ongoing project, with me adding new pictures whenever I can. And while I might expand it down the road, for now I plan on documenting only "historical" graves, meaning those of people who lived primarily in the 1700's and 1800's. The links are listed alphabetically, but grouped by cemetery for a little bit of order. If anyone has or takes any pictures of their own that they'd like to contribute to the project, I'd be more than happy to include them. I think a page like this will be useful not only to us as people interested in our local history, but also to folks near and far researching their own family's history. So, if you'd like, feel free to take a virtual stroll through the historic cemeteries of Mill Creek Hundred, and meet many of the residents featured on this site.