ENC Holly W 14: ENC Project #3: Groovy Graveyard:)

About 3 weeks ago, 8th grade took a trip to Historical Beaufort. During this trip we stopped at a courthouse, went in the Maritime Museum, the boat building place (sorry, forgot the name) and the Old Burying Ground. The site I found most interesting was the Burying Ground. I mean really, don't you find it super cool and hard to believe that there were those type of people in little bitty North Carolina? It's crazy. My favorite grave was that of the guy standing up and looking homebound. Another favorite was the one where this woman was in love with one guy, and he went out to sea and she thought he had been killed. But then, he makes his return and shes now with another man, and they had a child together. It was a favorite because even though on earth they could not be together any longer, they would be united once again in death and in heaven.
Throughout the trip, I noticed a few graves were facing different directions. Some were facing towards their home country and some were facing east. This was because they were 'facing the sun when they rose on judgement morning'. Thats neat!
Some of the people resting in this cemetary date back to the late 1700's, and some are recent. There are soldiers, babies, families, polititians, generations of people from wars and even people from Europe taking up the space of the graveyard. In some way, they all made Beaufort the place it has become today.

Above is the grave of the girl buried in a rum barrel. She went out to sea with her father when her mother finally said she could. On the voyage, she became sick with yellow fever and passed away on the ship after a few days of suffering. Her father promised she would make it home, so he put her in a rum barrel, took her back home and in this graveyard she lays to this day. The reason we put toys atop her grave is tradition, and also, rumors say that in the night sometimes you can 'see her playing with her toys'. This hasn't been proven but people say they have seen it. I had fun on this trip! Even though I go to Beaufort 48578349 times a year, I still learn somthing new every time. It's full of history and information from the past, but makes a fun adventure for everyone! :)