IMPORTANT NEWS!

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the lecture on November 13th. I thought it went extremely well. The presentation was filmed by Mansfield Cable, so as soon as they post a link to the presentation, I will share it here.

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March 4, 2021

I found a satellite view on Google Maps that, thanks to the angle of the sun when the shot was taken, clearly locates individual graves over large parts of the cemetery. I imported it into my Sketchup model, rescaled it to match the actual dimensions of the site, inserted generic headstones where indicated, and begun the process of replacing them with more accurate depictions of the stones, each stone tagged with information about its owner.

So far I've encountered four different materials being used for memorial: slate, schist, marble, and so-called military marble. The military marble seems to be all stones from the same site, providing permanent memorial for fallen soldiers. None of them have dates but I'm guessing these are Civil War era. To my untrained eye this does not seem to be stone of the highest quality.

The photo sample is from the 2010 Siena inventory.

A note on the surrounding structures. There are a lot of buildings in the area, many of which will figure prominently in the project visualizations, others which need merely register as "noise" in the background. If you look at the default preview image for the animation above (try hitting F5 if you don't see it) you'll note three different building colors: white, pink, and gray. The pink buildings are simple cubes or close to it, borrowed from the earlier Lost Mansfield project This style of modeling is often referred to as "sugar cubes." The white models are more recent, closer to the cemetery, and therefore will ultimately receive a higher level of detail. Gray buildings, again, imported from the earlier project, were provided by the Mansfield Historical Society, the work of Mr. Lou Andrews of that organization, and were originally, like the Town Hall complex shown in the animation, photo-textured. Unfortunately, it became necessary to strip them of their textures because the project file was on its way to being unmanageably large due to the embedded photo-textures. You'll note my renderer had some trouble with the Town Hall photo-textures. This issue will need to be resolved.

Here is the Congregational Church in the animation. Since it and the surrounding houses figures prominently in the new project, I replaced it with a photo-matched model. The three houses to the left received similar treatment, except I used Google Maps information rather than an actual photograph. I may provide short demonstrations on both techniques as the project progresses.

An updated animation showing completed gravestones in place. This is a Sketchup animation, which explains the somewhat cartoon-y appearance. It takes quite a few hours to fully render an animation, only minutes for the Sketchup version. You'll note that the Town Hall photo-textures are correct in Sketchup.

March 25, 2021

I've been carving gravestones. Actually I've been busy creating the nearly 500 headstones and monuments that will show up in the final project.

At a certain point, it's easier to just redo one (especially if it's a simple rectangle) than find and copy an existing, similar one. I've been visiting the Cemetery and, with the invaluable assistance of my friend Noah Gordon, measuring and photographing the stones in place. I can then reference the photo while I do a quick copy of the stone design.

Anyway, I thought I'd try out some free video capture software to demonstrate how I create a new headstone. This is pretty raw. It's my very first time with the software and there's an interminable pause when SketchUp decided it was time to do an automatic backup, some hesitation doing stuff on my part, and some unclear actions that would benefit from a little narration—but I think it conveys the process.

I was in communication with the redoubtable Lou Andrews of the Mansfield Historical Society, and he mentioned that he lived in a house once owned by Darwin Dean (d. 1858) and had found a fragmented headstone for William Deane II on his property.

It is Lou's understanding that the body was reburied in the Cemetery. There are eight or nine unidentified sites in the Cemetery; one of them may be his. Here are Lou's photos of the Deane graves at Mansfield Old Town Cemetery. Click the arrows or the thumbnails along the bottom to view additional images.

Noah surveyed with me again and we documented another fifty headstones. I just spent the last few days modeling and installing the individual headstones in the Sketchup file and updating the database. Here's another imaginary tour of the site starting from a perch atop the Congregational Church (thanks to Lou Andrews for his updated church spire).

Another way to potentially visualize the data:

Busy scanning and converting the survey on file at the Library, which they very kindly lent to me, with the able assistance of Rick Schwartz of SchwartzTalk. Back to survey more graves, and I also took the opportunity to update some of the buildings surrounding the site, like the relatively new buildings on the corner of West and Main, and the Citgo Station across the street from the Town Common. I also took the opportunity to model the Town war memorial adjacent to the Cemetery. The side of the Memorial facing the Cemetery is full of the names of Mansfield's war dead, although that is not included in the model. The side facing away from the Cemetery, sadly, has ample room for more names.

I was at the Cemetery a few days ago and wandered into parts of it I hadn't visited yet before getting back to cataloging headstones. I found these two fine old examples of the stonecarver's art on the very outskirts of the Cemetery, under one of the massive pines that line the borders. They are well-protected from the elements and memorialize a Revolutionary War soldier (died 1780) and, 14 years later, his daughter Damaris.

Another animated update.

Thanks to Mansfield resident Mark Corsillo for these drone videos and photographs of the Cemetery!

The model has advanced far enough that I'd like to distribute it to interested parties for their comments, input, and suggestions. In order to view the 3D Cemetery model, you need, obviously, the model, "Old Town Cemetery Model.skp." Please right-click and click "save link as" to download.

You now need to download the model viewer. The model was done in a program called SketchUp and can be viewed using a free download called SketchUp Viewer. SketchUp Viewer is available for a variety of platforms. Use the link below to download from the developer's website. The first time you load the app you will be requested to register.

SketchUp Viewer

Scroll all the way to the bottom and click the Get It button.

Here is a video introduction to using the app. I hope it piques your interest.

Click here to download the latest model:

Old Town Cemetery Model.skp

Right-click and click "save link as" to download.

I've been working on the Cemetery project off and on since my last post, but honestly, it's painting season and I've been busy painting. I thought I'd have it done by now, but now, no hurry.

Here's a painting from early in the season, another view of the Cemetery this time from the Town Hall side.

There's so much to do on this project I can dive in almost anywhere. One of the things I've been wanting to do it to convert Lou Andrews' Town Hall model from phototextures to simplified 3D objects (the phototextures work great in Sketchup but don't translate well to my rendering program).

I haven't done a full rendered animation since the beginning of the project,. so I decided to throw a quick one together. Add some realistic vegetation, and voila.

Download the SketchUp Viewer here:

SketchUp Viewer

Scroll all the way to the bottom and click the Get It button. The first time you load the app you will be requested to register.

Click here to download the latest model:

Old Town Cemetery Model.skp

Right-click and click "save link as" to download.

I decided to back off from database drudgery to look at some of the epitaphs. They range from the conventionally religious, ("Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord," "They died in the Faith") to the elegiac:

Farewell dear friend a short farewell
Til we shall meet again above,
Where endless joys and pleasures dwell,
And trees of life bear fruit of love.

* * *

This languishing head is at rest,
It's [sic] thinking and aching are o'ver [sic]
This quiet, immoveable breast
Is heav'd by affliction no more
This heart is no longe the seal
of trouble and torturing pain;
It ceases to flutter & beat
It never shall flutter again.

to the philosophical:

"To live in hearts left behind is not to die."

with a strong dose of "Et In Arcadia Ego":

Death is a debt to nature due,
Which I have paid and so must you.

* * *

My youthful friends as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you will be
Prepare for death and follow me.

And an occasional frisson of religious fanaticism:

whot you have dun
Consider wall
Left you at last
Be sant to Hall

Then there's what I can only call fads and trends in epitaphs, like variations on the popular

Friends & physicians could not save,
His mortal body from the grave,
Nor can the grave contain him here,
When Jesus calls, he must appear.

which shows up a number of times in the 1810s and 20s. Some are merely factual:

She was respected by all her acquaintances

or comprehensive

"Here reclines ye remains of Rev. George Wheaton ye beloved and affectionate pastor of the Church of Christ in Clarmont N.H. and the son of George Wheaton Eq. of Mansfield. He finished his education at Harvard College in 1769 and was ordained Feb. ye 19 1772 and died June 24, 1773 at age 22 much lamented. His genius was bright and promising. His private conversation pleasing and instructive, his public performance devote and manly and graceful. The new country in which he opened a wide field for which his useful labors in which his readiness to oblige and his fervor and zeal for his masters cause urged him beyond the limits of his constitution and brought on his illness of which he died. _ whose memory and this monument is gratefully erected by the people of his church."

Others a little TOO factual:

The greedy worms devour my skin
And gnaw my wasting flesh.

There is genuine grief for lost spouses:

A fond husband his whole freight of happiness in this frail Bark-there was a wreck - it was total.

and parents

"Our Mother: She taught us how to live and how to die."

But the saddest of all are the many, many children's epitaphs. Loss of an infant was so common that many such headstones have no epitaph at all--what could there be to say about a life snuffed out within a day or two?--but even so the parental grief is palpable:

Hush, hush, my little Baby dear
There's nobody to hurt you here.

Perhaps the deepest sentiment is displayed for children old enough to have developed a personality and presence. Here the parents' grief is unalloyed:

"Here lies a father's joy, A tender mother's care, Tho, God hath cut him down, He'll raise him fresh and fair." (age 12)

Cropp'd as a bud from yonder tree
From death's arrest no age is free (age 7)

I few smiling pleasures knew;
I few gay delights could view;
Joyless sojourner was I.
Only born to weep and die. (age 8)

Perhaps the deepest grief was reserved for young people just entering adulthood:

In the bloom of life by death laid low,
Two loving Sisters as this stone doth show
With joy they obeyed their heavenly father's call
They were their widowed mother's all;

* * *

The fairest form that nature shews,
Sustains the sharpest doom;
Her life was like the morning rose,
That withers in its bloom.

* * *

How few the days how short the hours
Of our expected bliss;
Mourn not for me my husband dear,
For I am gone to rest.

Then there are the odd or frankly boastful, like this epitaph from the grave of a 91 year old:

Kind reader your attention give
to you are passing by;
And think if you deserve to live
To such an age as I

* * *

Ye pleasing scenes, adieu!
Which I so long have know;
My friends, a long farewell to you,
For I must pass alone.
---
The finished, the conflict is past
The months of affliction are o'er,
The days and nights of distress;
We see her in anguish no more.

A lot of clean-up and systemization on the model. Also, prettier. Here's a video tour of the project using the free SketchUp Viewer.

September 10, 2021

I'm going through the photos and cropping for inclusion in a library and I thought this photo looked particularly fine for a random shot.

Here's how I'm organizing the photos. I'm cropping everything back so just the marker shows. I then save it using the new catalogue number I've assigned it, the name, and the relevant dates. The idea is that if someone is browsing the model or database, she can look up the matching photograph. So, if you're interested in Simon Green, you can find him in the database:

or in the model:

Look up the image in the numeric picture library

and voila!

It also works in reverse: see a marker that interests you while browsing the photo gallery, look up the number in the database and use the location information to find it in the model.

While putting the finishing touches on the cemetery model, I came across this sad little grouping, which speaks to some of the forgotten tragedies in Old Town Cemetery.

This is the Billings plot between Enclosure 7 and the ornately fenced Enclosure 4 on my model. It includes marble headstones for the paterfamilas, Lt. Benjamin Billings (1729-1800), his wife Rachel (1737-1761) and a marble monument to their son, Dr. Benjamin Billings 1760-1842 and his wife, Sibell Deane Billings (1760-1839). Marble was not a commonly used material in 1800, so my guess is that the grandparents' headstones were replaced or added at the same time the monument was erected.

Rachel Billings died within a year of the birth of her son Benjamin. She was 24 at the time of her death, so it's unlikely there were more children (in any case, no Billings show up in any other Mansfield cemetery). Lt. Benjamin remained a widower for the next 39 years.

Buried near their parents' monument are the remains of six children, all but one of whom survived less than a year. Ferdinand (1788-1788), a completely illegible headstone, Benjamin (dates unavailable), an unnamed daughter who lived one day in 1797, another unnamed daughter whose dates are illegible, and Sibell Emeline Billings, who died in 1811 at the age of six. Besides these six children, I can find only two other instances of the name Billings in the database: Fanny Billings Briggs (1783-1867) and Billings Bates (1769-1769). The name is otherwise lost to Mansfield history.

Benjamin and Sibell Billings had seven children, only one of whom, Fanny, survived into adulthood. Sibell gave birth for the last time at the age of 45 and lost her young daughter six years later.

I cannot help but feel the Billings household must have been a rather melancholy place.

The model is substantially finished. This is an animation I have been planning on doing even before I started the project. This only shows the graves for which I have confirmed dates.

I was doing some exploring looking for good subjects to paint in the area that did not involve water. I ended up doing another cemetery painting. This is William Dean Cemetery in Easton. It dates back to 1815.

Here's another subject that interested me from the beginning—the issue of childhood morbidity. 1805 and 1820 appear to have been particularly bad years. This animation is a first pass on an approach that could be gone into more thoroughly.

One last subject of interest before the presentation—veterans' monuments. I may have gone a little overboard on this one. As before, the year is displayed in the lower right while the current war, if any, is displayed at upper right. Veterans' names appear when they are born, turn red during their presumed period of service between the ages of 20 and thirty, then turn blue in reitrement before being replaced with a monument on the map.

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the lecture on November 13th. I thought it went extremely well. The presentation was filmed by Mansfield Cable, so as soon as they post a link to the presentation, I will share it here. In other news, model, database, and photo library are all updated.

Well, it took a while, but here is the video of my talk at the Mansfield Public Library back in November. I'm sorry it doesn't include Rick Schwartz's very interesting contribution. The project is on hold right now while I pursue other interests, but I expect I'll get back to it in the spring. Thanks for your interest and support!

That's it for now! Look for information on updates on Facebook or contact me at marc.clamage@gmail.com if you have questions or would like to participate.

READY TO TRY IT YOURSELF?

Download the FREE SketchUp Viewer here:

SketchUp Viewer

Scroll all the way to the bottom and click the Get It button. The first time you load the app you will be requested to register.

Click here to download the latest models (as of 11/17/2021; file size 35 megs):

Old Town Cemetery for Desktop.skp

Old Town Cemetery for phone.skp

The "Desktop" file is optimized for viewing on a desktop or laptop. The "Phone" file is optimized for remote devices. They're essentially the same, except the phone has shadows turned off to minimize memory issues. Right-click and click "save link as" to download. This has shadows turned off and is optimized for viewing on a mobile devide.

Download the most up-to-date spreadsheet/database:

Old Town Cemetery Database.xlsx

Right-click and click "save link as" to download.

Download PDF files of the 2010 Siena survey on display at the Library:

Old Town Cemetery Section 01 (file size 19 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 02 (file size 16 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 03 (file size 11 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 04 (file size 9 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 05 (file size 22 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 06 (file size 10 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 07 (file size 16 megs)

Old Town Cemetery Section 08 (file size 37 megs)

Access Photo Library

View or download high resolution photographs of individual headstones, by clicking below (note: photos—360 megs to date—are located on Google Drive, so clicking below for ther first time will send me an access request):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1v_SkHOExVxB9Hao1veaSy0poPX-BaZ_A

Right-click and open in a new tab to visit the Library while keeping this page open.

***

My thanks to the Mansfield Historical Society for their invaluable expertise and assistance, to the Daughters of the American Revolution for their initial survey and continued involvement, to the Siena family for their extensive work compiling information about the individual markers, to the Town of Mansfield for its competent and respectful maintenance of the Town's cultural heritage, to the Mansfield Local Cultural Council for funding this project, and to the Massachusetts Cultural Council and through it the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for their commitment to the arts and humanities.

This page was created under the auspices of the Mansfield Local Cultural Council. The Mansfield Local Cultural Council (MLCC) is comprised of area volunteers interested in supporting the arts, humanities, and sciences in the Town of Mansfield. Our mission is to promote excellence, access, education and diversity in these areas.

To apply for a MLCC Grant, visit www.mass-culture.org/Mansfield. We invite you to join us at a meeting, become a member, or attend the programs and events funded by the Mansfield Local Cultural Council.

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