Vale End Cemetery, Wilton, NH

In the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to do something spooky and I had seen an article online about a supposedly haunted cemetery in Wilton, NH. Since it was a beautiful autumn day and Wilton is only about 20 miles away and one of my ancestors (Caroline Gray) was from Wilton, it seemed like an appropriate destination. Unfortunately, research is difficult in Wilton, because all the records were burned in a town hall fire in the 1860's and Caroline was born in 1822, so we have little information about her family besides her father's name (Joseph). The cemetery is called Vale End and since it was small, I walked around reading stones to see if there were any Grays there. I did not see any names from my family tree at all. And, I did not see any ghosts. However, it is a beautiful site, up on a hill, with a small pond visible through the trees. I did get lost looking for the cemetery and then drove past it before I could read the sign. The road was so narrow that I had to drive about half a mile up before I could find a spot to turn around. That was actually fortuitous because the area is so beautiful that when I found a spot to turn around, I parked and got out to take pictures. While I did not find any family information at Vale End, I did see another, much larger, cemetery at the beginning of the road that I would like to check out on a warmer day. On the way back, I stopped at the absolute best nursery in NH – House By the Side of the Road. I got myself a little birthday present, a cute mini African violet.
So, no family found, no ghosts seen, but still a great day.

The website for ghosthunting in NH is:
http://www.hollowhill.com/nh/nh.htm

Tomb of Seth Webber and Joseph Grammer

I had an appointment in Boston on Tuesday so I thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to Copp's Hill and see if I could find the tomb stone of Joseph Grammer, since I now have the maps to guide me. We took the T from Arlington Street to Haymarket and walked the Freedom Trail from Faneuil Hall to the cemetery. It was very warm and sunny, and I was surprised there were no bright fall colors to the trees. When we finally wove through the tourists and reached the gates of the cemetery – they were padlocked shut! There was no sign and neither the tourists nor we knew why they were locked, but I feared it was due to vandalism. So, we walked around to the back of the cemetery, where I knew the stone was located. I could see what I suspected was the stone right up close to the fence, so I found a toe hold in the bricks, grabbed the wrought iron bars and climbed up. I am a big chicken, so I didn't jump over (I could have, but I was still worried about vandalism or something and I didn't want to mess up a crime scene). Anyway, I was able to lean over the fence, upside down, and take a picture of the stone. I'm sure that was a very attractive sight from the road! And, I am the clumsiest person I know, so just picture my poor mother on the sidewalk below, ready to catch me if I fell! The stone seems to be sunken, I could only see Seth Webber's name and the date. But, otherwise it seemed to be in good shape. I am going to use some of the references in the Chauncey Wells book to research who might be buried in that tomb. According to the author, the names of all those buried in a tomb are not always on the stone, and the names were sometimes put on the stone when purchased and many years later that person was buried elsewhere. I stopped at the gift shop at the Old North Church to ask why the gates were locked, because if it was some long term damage or construction or whatever, I wanted to warn other researchers who might be planning the trip. The teenagers working there were all like "Duh, are they locked?" Apparently, the official gatekeeper must have called out sick and no one else thought to unlock them :) They did mention that it is managed by the National Park Service and that is who one should call to confirm that the cemetery is open.