Laurel Hill Cemetery at Grey Towers
Milford, PA - June 4, 2011
Laurel Hill Cemetery is part of the Grey Towers National Historic site in Milford, PA. We’ve been to Grey Towers before but didn’t know about the cemetery. We have taken pictures of other cemeteries before, too, so when we saw the sign to Laurel Hill on our way out after taking pictures at Grey Towers, I thought it would just be another cemetery.

But when I followed the path for a quick look and saw the tombstones in disarray -- many toppled and broken with grasses overgrown and fern all around with no clear path on which a visitor may tread -- I realized how wrong I was. This wasn’t just another cemetery. It was a cemetery that was kept the way it was when it was abandoned in 1899 -- unkempt -- which gave it an otherworldly look.

The sign at the entrance even says, “Pedestrians Welcome -- Dawn to Dusk”. Which to me is like posting the speed limit at 65mph so everyone can go at 75. It’s daring me to come before dawn or come after dusk when it’s completely dark.

One early morning or one late night, being that I am apt to oblige whenever the nocturnal beckons, I just might.

 Click on a picture to enlarge.
Laurel Hill Cemetery.
According to the cemetery's leaflet, “Depressions develop over time when the wooden coffins deteriorate and collapse.” (source: U.S. Forest Service website) Translation: Watch your step.
The cemetery “contains 112 monuments, ranging from undressed fieldstone markers for paupers’ graves to more elaborate obelisks and carved markers.” (source: U.S. Forest Service website) Translation: Even among the dead, status quo rules.
Grey Towers. Many visitors have asked if Grey Towers is haunted that the U.S. Forest Service decided to put it on its website. It says, “There have been no documented sightings of ghosts, though some claim to have ’felt’ a presence. It depends on your personal interpretation.” Translation: It is.
The sign says,
If you think the whole cemetery is staged, it’s not. Evidence is this bone Vi found. Make no mistake, that’s a human bone. Vi took this picture.
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