The Cache Series
The Thanatopsis series of caches celebrates a life-long interest of
mine, old rural cemeteries. I have also included an Emily Dickinson poem
with each cache, since she wrote many poems about death. The poems themselves
were taken from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by
Thomas H. Johnson. Emily Dickinson published 1,775 poems. Each poem of
the series follows the numbering of the "Harvard (variorum) edition,"
according to Thomas Johnson. As a heading to each poem, I quote Johnson
in giving the earliest known manuscript for the poem, and its earliest
publication date.
Why "Thanatopsis?" My dictionary defines it as "a meditation upon death."
A final word: All caches may be found without showing any disrespect
for our predecessors. I hope that all finders have an opportunity to pause
and consider what life (and death) must have been like in the North Woods,
more than a century ago.
The Cache
The cache is a match holder covered with camo tape.
I like the fence around this well-maintained cemetery. Please also check
out Thanatopsis 18.
The Cemetery
Goetz-Grassle Cemetery
In 1877 Peter Leopold Grassle set aside two acres in this location for
a cemetery for use by the Goetz and Grassle families. Early burials in
the cemetery include Leopold Grassle 1864, J. Leopold Grassle 1890, A.
Fredericka Grassle 1890, and Wilhelmina Grassle 1895. There is a single
stone in a pasture 0.9 miles west of State Highway 27 on County Road O
of Adam Goetz 1786-1861 who is buried there. (From
the Chippewa County Cemetery Index by Donna Miller Bourget, 1998.)
The Poem
Harvard Number 1151. (From The Complete Poems
of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson.)
Earliest known manuscript: c. 1869; First publication: 1945
Soul, take thy risk,
With Death to be
Were better than be not
With thee