In 2020 my business was closed due to the COVID pandemic and I spent most of that year and the following as a caregiver to my mother. In the months that followed, I found myself contemplating what new direction my life would be taking. One of the things my mother spoke to me about was some of the things she never got to experience in her time and I began to deeply understand just how important today is and began to revist all of those things I had put off for another time. I quickly took to the road, traveling the northeast United States indulging my thirst for history, experience and culture. What started as a literary tour, I saught out the grave and story of Washington Irving, author of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow. My camera and I landed on the “groggy” grounds of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, as he so aptly describes them.
…And this is where inspiration was born.
This introduction to the Rural Cemetery Movement, the circumstances that spawned the movement and the influences it has had on the development of American culture, triggered every passion I have. One year later I find myself with a growing collection of works ranging from the creatively inspired to the historically significant. Below you will find them organized by location. My collection is far from complete with plans to visit other historical grounds in the near future. What your see here is the foundation of the Graveyards & Gardens Exhibition. Thank you for following along.