Monday, October 1, 2007

October Theme Day: Cemeteries and Tombstones


Dusk at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetary. JB, as we call it around here, was founded in 1826 as the first major American army base west of the Mississippi River. It contained the country's first formal infantry school, a large military hospital during the Civil War and was an ammunition storage facility during the First and Second World Wars.

Today, it is the burial place of thousands upon thousands of U.S. servicemen and women. It is vast and quiet. When I visited near sunset on a beautiful Saturday evening, the grounds were hushed, nearly empty. The expressions of the few visitors reflected the solemnity of these fields.

Memento mori with other City Daily Photo Bloggers at these sites:

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21 comments:

Sally said...

Great shot. I find it interesting how many Americans have chosen to show war cemeteries - deep in the national psyche, perhaps? So many wars, so much loss...

Sydney Daily Photo

Kate said...

There are now 3 military cemeteries in cities along the Mississippi posted today. There is a serenity and peacefulness about them, and I'm glad that we chose these gravesites.

Unknown said...

I love the angle you chose for the photo, wonderful work!

Port Angeles Daily Photo

Lavenderlady said...

When I first saw this photo, it reminded me of the "The War", which was broadcast on our local PBS station.

Olivier said...

avec ce grand angle, on a une impression d'infini (et qu'il n'y a pas de fin avec les guerres). je trouve tres original ton option pour cette photo.

with this great angle, there is an impression of infinite (and that there is no end with the wars). I find very original ton option for this photograph.

R&R said...

There definitely is a moving solemnity to military cemeteries. And the setting sun adds to the feeling. Nice shot and writeup.

Jilly said...

Great shot of a war cemetery. Gosh, how those lines go on and on and on...

U "R" Us AKA Captain Crowe said...

Really nice light and angle. And the fact that the center stone is the only one with black lettering is a nice detail.

Susan said...

Fantastic shot!

Sasha said...

Very nice photo.

If I had been able to find my photos of Jefferson Barracks I was going to post my favorite today! A while back a friend of my ex was wanting to shoot a video for one of his songs. The song was written about one of his ex's who was in the armed forces and passed away a few years ago, so part of the video was to be shot at her grave in JB. I got some excellant stills from that day.

M. CHRISTOPHE said...

Very nice picture. Good angle very nice colors...what else to say...I like it

Maggie said...

Beautiful shot - it's incredible how many headstones there are - every time I pass it on the highway I feel this sense of solemnity

Anonymous said...

What a lovely, peaceful scene. I love the way the sunset colors the headstones. :)

Neva said...

What an interesting symmetry.

Lynette said...

The perspective you chose for you photo shows the depths of the cemetery. I'll just bet that much the same photo could be taken from several other directions and still not capture all of the graves. God bless their families.

• Eliane • said...

This is a wonderful shot. I love its perpective. It looks endless.

Steve Cuddihy said...

Oddly enough, I always have cornfields in my mind when I see cemetery photos like this. Very nice symetry.

Ming the Merciless said...

Very nicely done. I'm amazed at how well kept the place is considering the cemetery has been around since the early 1800s.

Anonymous said...

What a nice image! The headstones make a great pattern.

teeth whitening

Denton said...

A very powerful photo. A first I noticed the symmetry. Then I noticed that the rows to headstones extended as far as we could see. Very powerful indeed.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Very interesting lines composition.
All the same but different, that's life and death.