Mount Tabor Cemetery, Lakeland, Florida

I spend a lot of time in cemeteries.  This one is special because I grew up down the road from it.  I remember when the old Mt. Tabor Baptist Church sat on the land.  I spent my childhood roaming through it.  There use to be an old wooden headstone with just a skull and crossbones etched into it.  It is long gone and the grave it belonged to is no longer marked.

 This particular headstone is of the Harrelson quints.  There was no way they could have survived when they were born.  Time marches forward and so does technology and medicine.  It is an unusual find, and a tragedy.

This one is my favorite.  Emma Poston was a young woman when she died.  She has two children buried next to her.  It is a tragic story but not one to be told here.  You can see that the marker itself is eroding and that there was two vases on each side that have long since been gone. The inscription reads: She was a kind and loving wife and mother.

 Savara Alexader is another favorite.  I have cleaned and taken care of  Savara and Emma's graves.  The church does take some care of the grounds by mowing and removing debris, however the grave marker's themselves are the responsibility of the families. 

 

This particular shot is actually down inside a broken grave marker.  I spoke to someone at the church many times about the horrible condition.  Finally after a year, someone has fixed the grave by putting a new slab of concrete over it.  

 Cemeteries are testaments to time, family and life.  Taking care of them is something I do out of the respect for life.  I will post more pictures of Mt. Tabor Cemetery and I have a few stories to go along with them.  This cemetery is haunted.....but that is for another time.