Visit to Author's Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemeter

On a spontaneous whim, Crystal and I visited Author's Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, MA, on our way home from Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. Here are some pictures she took of me next to the main marker and each author's grave.


This is the main marker.


Here I am next to Henry David Thoreau's marker. I read aloud the first few sentences of "Civil Diobedience" here, but didn't drink any Bushmills. Something seemed wrong about doing that. It made sense that people had left natural items (except for some pennies) like pine cones and rocks on and around Thoreau's marker. It was quite a contrast from what you'll find at Kerouac's grave.


Next to the Hawthorne plot. I still remember the way my 11th grade English teacher, Mr. Stahler, used to enunciate "Hester Prynne."


This is Louisa May Alcott's marker.


Ralph Waldo Emerson's marker. Crystal read his poem, "The Apology," here. On the back of Lidian Emerson's marker (she was Ralph's wife), is an inscription that concludes, "...but with overflowing compassion her heart went out to the slave, the sick and the dumb creation. She remembered them that were bound as bound with them." Nice sentiment albeit terminology we would today find offensive.


After visiting the cemetery, we did a little windowshopping in town. For lunch we went to the Walden Grille.



Directly across the street was Thoreauly Antiques. Clever.