Down the Road

Photographs and stories by Jim Grey

Since 2007

Captured: Flag at Mount Jackson

Jim Grey
7 comments on Captured: Flag at Mount Jackson
1 minute
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Little flag among the fallen leaves

It’s called Mount Jackson Cemetery, but it’s on some of the flattest land in Indianapolis. Mount Jackson was the surrounding neighborhood’s original name, going back to the 1820s, but it’s been called Hawthorne for longer than anybody can remember. Poverty, drugs, petty crime — nobody lives in Hawthorne because they want to.

The cemetery persists, quiet, safe. Here lie Hawthorne’s earliest residents and the neighborhood’s original name. This plot gets little love, but someone came to remember a veteran buried here.

Comments

7 responses to “Captured: Flag at Mount Jackson”

  1. irenadawn Avatar
    irenadawn

    A beautiful photo … Perfect .. And the memories surrounding your words capture the thoughts surrounding many cemeteries now that include our veterans and others long dead. It seems no one honors or remembers the dead as in the past. Many cemeteries are left unkept with markers broken , never a flower or a flag. Church kept cemeteries usually have funds and they are the lucky ones. But, the buried either fallen Vet or family member are gone now and this generation does not know that you are suppose to try remember your dead. I see it as a part of that , ” Treat others as you would wish to be treated .” Rule ! Great reminder , Jim .

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      I like to wander cemeteries with my camera and can attest to what you say about so many of them being in disrepair. But sometimes, even in the most unkept cemetery, I will still find a marker with flowers or a flag. Somebody remembers!

      Reply
      1. irenadawn Avatar
        irenadawn

        Yes , the human spirit tries to completely let us down , and then we see HOPE !!! I have FAITH and HOPE and LOVE in my indestructible heart even now !!! GOD just will not completely let me stop believing ! Just like that one Stone with a Flag or Flowers among the broken , God is there to give me Strength and HOPE ! 😜😜😜

        Reply
  2. Carole Grey Avatar
    Carole Grey

    Both sad and beautiful.

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      I only wish I had gotten the flag in crisper focus.

      Reply
  3. Nancy ( Roe ) Stewart Avatar
    Nancy ( Roe ) Stewart

    I too like to walk in cemeteries. The older the better. Our generation still decorate the graves as our families did when we were growing up. We would usual run into other members of the family out doing the same thing. I have a feeling my generation will probably be the last to carry on this tradition.The young people don’t seem interested. We have a very old iron flag holder that has GAR on it that we always put on my great-grandfather’s grave with a flag in it. It is for the Grand Army of the Republic from the Civil War. But we can’t put it out anymore because someone would steal it to sell it. Since I have been working on some of the family geneology, I thought it would be nice to go back to Virginia and Pennsylvania and find some of the ancestor’s graves and say ” I am here – you are not forgotten – we still remember.” Very nice photo with the flag and the autumn colors.

    Reply
    1. Jim Grey Avatar
      Jim Grey

      I think you might be right, remembering ancestors in cemeteries could be a generational thing that has skipped the current generations. It’s not even a thing I do. I’ve been to my dad’s dad’s grave but once — I stumbled upon it, actually, when we buried my Aunt Betty. I’d never seen it before. It was a moving experience to find a grave with my name on it, as I share my grandfather’s name.

      Reply

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