Episode 7: Degenerate, Part 2

Picking up where we left off in Episode 7: Degenerate, Part 1, Part 2 delves into the deep, complicated historic reasons why cemeteries in New England became abandoned. We talk to the experts: Robin Lacy, of Spade and the Grave, who shares her research into Puritan burial customs and culture; Brian Post, of Standing Stone Landscape Architecture, who takes us on a tour of some of his gravestone restoration work; and Tom Giffin, of VOCA, the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, who walks us through why cemeteries are not just an opportunity for remembrance but also, community investment. And we continue to explore what influences the neglect in white Anglo-American versus Black and Indigenous Persons burying grounds in New England. By again discussing the historical and current situations with the Western Abenaki Burying Ground in Bellows Falls, VT and the African Burying Ground in Portsmouth, NH, we try to shed a light on how and why marginalized groups become more so, even in death. Covid has made organizing interviews much more difficult and so while I have been in conversations with representatives from the Elnu Abenaki in VT and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire to get their comments and perspective on the treatment of THEIR ancestors, it just was not feasible at this time. I hope next year to follow up with both groups and include an addendum to this episode with their interviews.