Ruins and Cemeteries

It was a bright, sunny day today, with a brisk south wind blowing.  The ocean this morning looked like a broad river flowing swiftly toward the east, as if it were heading for a waterfall on the horizon, a Niagara tumbling over the edge of the world.  We decided that despite the wind it would be a good morning for another hike at nearby Fort Macon, so we drove to the picnic area and started out on the ocean side of the Eliott Coues nature trail toward the Fort.

This part of the trail is completely different from the portion that meanders through a live oak and cedar maritime forest along the sound.  It climbs up to a high point on the sand dunes overlooking the ocean, stabilized with recycled Christmas trees and surfaced with bark mulch in places.

It is a popular place for trail running, and two or three runners passed us while we were hiking.  Every year, the park rangers embark on another ambitious project, such as the new WWII gun emplacement I wrote about a few days ago.  They have also erected some new informational signs, including a brief history of this interesting pile of concrete just below where Martha is standing in the photo.

The sign identified this as the ruins of a Battery Commander Fire Control Station, part of the WWII defenses of the Fort built on this sand dune in 1942.

Another sign had been placed in the shade of a little grove of twisted cedar trees, just west of the Fire Control Station, identifying the approximate location of the Fort Macon Post Cemetery.

The cemetery contained the remains of deceased soldiers posted at the Fort and their family members.  Originally, the small plot contained fourteen grave sites (one was later moved to New Bern) marked with simple wooden headboards and surrounded with a picket fence, but over the years the headboards rotted and the exact site has been lost somewhere under the shifting sands and twisted trees around us.

As with all cemeteries, we felt the solemnity of the place.  Ironically, we have been watching with concern the news about the coronavirus and a possible pandemic that may be coming our way.  But our medical science today is so much better equipped to handle sickness and epidemics than it was in 1873, when the final body was interred.  Although the exact site is unknown, there is a historical record of those buried here, and we read down the list soberly, noting the ages and the unusual causes of death (not easily seen in the photo I took):

1.   William Brown, age 21.  Dropsy (Edema - I had to look the word up).
2 .  William Jones, age 26.  Typhoid fever.
3.   Peter Alexander, age 21.  No cause given.
4.   George Sedgewick, no age given.  Chronic diarrhea.
5.   Charles Brown, no age given, U. S. Colored Troops.  No cause given.
6.   Patrick McAllister, no age given.  No cause given.
7.   William Downey, age 22, shot by guard who mistook him for escaping
      prisoner.
8.   Emily Brunn, age 20 months.  No cause given.
9.   Louis Thurnherr, age 33.  Drowned.
10. Mrs. Laura Linnell, age 29, body found washed up on shore, drowned at
       sea with husband and child in sinking of the schooner Lottie J. Sparrow
11.  William Livingston, age 21, prisoner.  Killed by lightning.
12.  John Martin, age 37.  Dyspepsia.
13.  James Jones, age 26.  Exposure.