Henry Rifle Forums

Interesting. Very old I assume. I had an old cemetery just up the road from where I used to live in North Whitehall Township Pennsylvania. I liked to walk in it and look at the old grave stones, some of which were hard to read due to age or were in Pa.German. Some from the Revolutionary War are buried there.

This is a picture of the Neffs Union Church which I attended in Neffs, Pa., North Whitehall Township. The cemetery is behind the church and the older one which I spoke of above, is accross the street. I lived there from 1971 until October of 2012 when I moved to Chambersburg to be closer to my son and his family. I lived just accross a field, in a ranch style house, which was located opposite that bend in the road. I had the best view of that church of any other home because the back of the house faced the church. I used to sit on my patio in the evenings and watch the deer in the field and look up at the church. It is lit up at night. It originally was wooden, then stone and finally the way you see it now, brick, in 1871. An addition and stained glass windows have been added since then. A trolley used to run on that road in the "old days." That is a pretty hard turn. I saw some cars not make it through that turn, through the years, and wind up into a tree or into the old cemetery, which is just out of view, around the bend. The first log church was built in 1755 and the stone church in 1797. I didn't take this, of course, I don't like to fly. I just wanted to show you a picture of our church and the history and relate it to the cemetery, which I spoke of above.

Here is one that I did take, in the old cemetery, a day after a snow storm. Grave of a soldier from the Revolutionary War.

Cemeteries have always fascinated me. We have a lot of pioneer cemeteries here in Washington State. Many have just a few dozen graves and are from the late 1800's.

Not to steal Coach's thread or idea -- but his Scottish Cemetery reminded me of some pictures I took in northern IL of a Serbian cemetery.

In a sense, I grew up with this place, and it reflects part of my Slavic heritage. But the "growing up" was not centered around the cemetery itself, as there is a mix of functions that this property serves. Yes, it is a cemetery. On the same property is an adjacent monastery, which is the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America. My Dad attended this church, and brought us to Sunday services here. For my growing up years, when I was an early teen, I often attended our summer church camp located on this property, too. When not serving as camp grounds, there were holiday picnics throughout the year, e.g. 4th of July, Labor Day, etc., and an exciting event was always going to see a soccer meet. Soccer was/is the national sport in the former Yugoslavia, where my Dad grew up. The competitions were fierce, and fun to watch.

[Reminder, if you click on either photo, it will enlarge and be even clearer.]

This picture is of the church located a the top of a gentle hill, and from where I stand taking the picture the cemetery is behind me and to my right. An unusual practice for this denomination is that all around the church itself are grave sites of various bishops of the church. These are placed practically up to the church walls. The design is to be a memorial to church leadership.
In this newer section, notice the large size of some stones, and that the names are written either in Serbian using our English alphabet, or in actual Cyrillic letters. It's interesting to read the stones in this cemetery...many tell brief stories of peoples' lives and/or families. Lots of history here, and there are military veterans resting here, too.

Your not stealing anything.

I posted the picture for responses like yours.