Sometimes when I go to cemeteries, things other than headstones catch my attention. Wildflowers, maybe, or things left at gravesites. I never know what it’ll be, and like to just wander until something catches my attention. On this particular day, in this particular cemetery, the most interesting things to look at were the relics of iron markers around the graves.

This cemetery is old (for Texas, I mean), dating from the early 1820s, and many of the graves were ringed by ornate metal fences. With few exceptions all the parts of the grave-fences were there, but almost none of them still held to their original alignment. And over the years, the metal had taken on a reddish, rough appearance; light-green lichen grew on a few of them. On the first day of March, the bright spring grasses made for a nice contrast, both in color and age.

And, so it was that on this particular day, in this particular cemetery, that contrast was what captured my attention.

Old Independence Cemetery
Independence, Texas
photographed 3.1.2014