While our visit to Niantic this past August brought heartbreak, Hilltown’s “lower” cemetery brought a surprising thrill.
I’d only been to Hilltown once, many summer ago. Taking my grandfather to the resting place of his Welsh forefathers that blistering hot day remains one of my favorite memories. The knowledge of where his ancestors came from had been lost along the years, and for a long time it was supposed that William Thomas had been the immigrant or the son of one, since he moved from New York City to Pennsylvania.
“You mean, we came here to Philadelphia in the early 1700’s?”
That’s right, Granddad. We’re rebel colonials.
My dad had not been to Hilltown, and though he is not descended from the Thomas line he, too, is a lover of history. He was particularly curious about the ancient old Penn Oak and where the churches once stood on this site.
The last time I was at Hilltown, I was more interested in the gravestones. I new that a stone monument off closer to the road said that this was the site of the original “lower” Hilltown Baptist church buildings. But this time around, we saw something. Perhaps it’s because my family has gotten into archaeology documentaries recently, and we certainly would never have noticed were it not for the scorching drought. But there, surrounding the monument, were parchmarks. Lines of dead grass where, just under the surface, lays stones.
Gingerly stepping onto a burl at the bottom of dear Penn, I lifted my camera to see the blueprint of the most recent structure to have stood here, on the very land that Elder William built the first log church meeting house.
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And, peeking out from tufts of dead grass, we even found the cornerstones:
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Call me superstitious, but this is one of those cemeteries that has character. Maybe it’s the ancient stones, or the ancient Oak. But it captivates, and in some odd (and creepy) way, doesn’t want you to leave.
Standing among the gravestones of Elder William and his children, I recounted to my parents some favorite legends about these folks. About how Elder William purportedly foretold the future on numerous occasions, including the fates of several of his children. And when I told of how his youngest son was found strangled in his doorway and the murder never solved, a resounding CRACK came from a tree at the far back corner of the cemetery. There was hardly any wind. I couldn’t help but smirk.
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