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Neal & Pray
As you make your way towards Mother Goose you may want to
check out one of my favorite headstones located on the right-hand
side of the path, the wide, pentagon-shaped slate slab dedicated
to the young deaths of the children of Andrew and Melicent Neal.
The 1666 date is the oldest to be seen on any stone here in the
Granary (acrtually carved in 1771; you’ll see the actual oldest headstone shortly) and notes
the age of deaths ranging from the first Elizabeth’s of three days
to the passing of Andrew at eighteen months.
This grave is
one of my favorites because of all the details done by the
anonymous carver: the classic winged, death head; the curly-cue
reliefs that look very much like a modern Clef musical notation;
the Latin inscription, TEMPUS EDAX RERUM (“Time, devourer of all
things”)
But what I love the most is the three small symbols
etched into the stone above the inscribed names: the crossbones,
the hourglass and, my favorite, the two little criss-crossed
shovels.
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