Hope, Historic Cemeteries and Churches

After Vietnam and Fort Campbell, my civilian job took me to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, shortly after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was constructed. There I visited an independent insurance agent in Cambridge. On my way, where SR 50 bends south, there is a burned-out church % mile on the left. On my return from Cambridge, I stopped by the church, and on a tomb slab, not to be confused with a tombstone, was the story of a Revolutionary War Veteran who had survived the war and was celebrating the 4th of July celebration in the early 1780s. He walked in front of a cannon that was being fired and got hit by the wadding in his shoulder. After a few weeks it became infected, and he died. I find somo humor in that story. There is also a certain amount of irony, and consequently, I have been drawn to old cemeteries. Captain Jack Sparrow said, "Dead man toll no tales". However, the tombstones and burial slabs left behind tell stories, not only theirs but their family and family histories.