Charlotte

[This was written in July 2011:]

A lot of you know that I spend many of my waking hours recording Virginia history. For the next few weeks I will be traveling around Delaware. Every summer, I take a different part of the state and explore it. I look at historic churches and cemeteries and observe & record their necrogeography, burial customs, grave goods, etc... I visit lots of burial grounds and over the years have acquired a few favorites. One of my all time favorites is the St. George AME Church Cemetery in Lewes, Delaware. There are headstones for colored troops [yes, that's the correct terminology] from the civil war, there are probably hundreds of unmarked graves and there is Charlotte. Charlotte's headstone [preserved in concrete, cutting off any vital info] is pretty unique. It is handmade from poured concrete, [so she probably died around 1930] and inscribed with her name. While the cement was still wet, the headstone maker carved out a heart and placed three dots within it...trinity.... Perfection. Charlotte, you are remembered.