Model Train Journal

My son is renting a place in New Market, MD. His dog kept getting under the fence in a spot and all he could find to block the hole was one of these laying in the yard. He discovered what it was upon turning it over. He also discovered the back walk looked to be the same size and shape stones. Sure enough!





Unless those folks are buried under there. The 64 million dollar question(s) are: How did they get there and who would be rotten enough to remove these from our great service men and women’s original grave sites?

They could be repurposed. A monument maker may have screwed up the name and dates. Then sold them off as stepping stones.

robert. wrote:They could be repurposed. A monument maker may have screwed up the name and dates. Then sold them off as stepping stones.

Possible or salvaged from a closed/relocated graveyard.

The two stones I looked up appear to have been replaced upon the death of a spouse:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57905968/merle-junior-fissel

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66765385/sara-w-phillips

I suspect an employee or contractor of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg repurposed them.

According to the VA;

"Marble and granite headstones or markers that are replaced and removed from a grave must be destroyed to make sure that the inscription is no longer readable. Bronze markers must be returned to the contractor."

Fascinating. That makes sense to me. Any idea what the letter and number on the top right indicate?

My guess, row/plot number.

If they were illegitimately obtained, shame, shame! Otherwise OK!

Shameful is the right viewpoint for using those headstones for anything other than their intended purpose.

If I went to my hometown to visit my father's grave, who died on 1955, and found the - his - headstone missing , I'd be beyond hurt and chagrinned .

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:Shameful is the right viewpoint for using those headstones for anything other than their intended purpose.

If I went to my hometown to visit my father's grave, who died on 1955, and found the - his - headstone missing , I'd be beyond hurt and chagrinned .

Note: "The two stones I looked up appear to have been replaced upon the death of a spouse"

That gets done and a new stone/marker replaces the original with the spouse added.

What is not good here is that the original was not destroyed....

MurphOnMillerAve wrote:Shameful is the right viewpoint for using those headstones for anything other than their intended purpose.

IF.....they were replaced by updated stones, I see no issue in repurposing them.

Let's hope so.

Somewhat related: A Virginia state senator found headstones on his property. It brought to light a historic injustice in D.C.