Creepy, but beautiful…read more
Parshallville Cemetery is a historical, small town cemetery located in the Village of Parshallville, just up the path from Tom Walker's Grist Mill. Built in 1853, it has a variety of unique headstones and statues, many with moss growing around them. Some are so old and weather-beaten that the names are practically illegible today. Some can be partially read, while others remain a mystery. Many can't be easily read during the daylight because the sun "bleaches" out the etchings to the naked eye. Indeed, time has marched onward.
Some of the stones are damaged or partially missing, even standing slightly askew thanks to the ravages of time, while others look perfectly intact. A few of the taller headstones and statues have visible damage, leaving large, broken off pieces of stone scattered nearby. I believe there are at least 200 graves in this tiny, nineteenth century era graveyard, with most graves sitting high atop a lopsided hill. There are a few newer stones, but most are older and date back to the later 1800's. To me, the stones and monuments blanketed in moss are among the most haunting, and at the same time, oddly beautiful, of all.
In the fall, the graveyard is both spooky and beautiful, with its ornate headstones and statues partly hidden under a cover of autumn foliage. Just wait until dusk and the spookiness factor ramps up a few degrees. My husband and I were up here taking pictures last fall when it started getting dark and we instantly felt the level of creepiness inch upward, so we split pretty quick after that.
These days, it's pretty quiet up there, save for the few visitors wishing to honor the dead or take pictures. It is a very picturesque spot, that is for certain. The site does make for some incredibly beautiful photos. Sometimes, passersby from the the cider mill stop in to take a quick tour of the sights and snap a few pictures along the way, particularly in the fall. It's definitely an intriguing place for a photo-op. I've done it myself quite a few times. I found it to be a quiet, reflective place where it's impossible not to think about the souls resting here for all eternity.
Today, the care of Parshallville Cemetery is under the control of the Hartland Township Board of Trustees. Repairs to some of the stones are needed and some restoration work at the cemetery has occurred in recent years. A new fence was installed a few years ago and a wrought iron archway was completed shortly thereafter and stands at the entrance.