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.
Park at N45 7.195 W90 58.946.
The Cemetery
St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery
The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin/St. Mary’s Catholic
Church was built in 1904 on land in Huron donated by Northwestern Lumber
Company. The church continued until 1969 and was dismantled in 1971. The
cemetery that was next to the church is all that remains and was known
as the Huron Catholic Cemetery. Holy Cross Catholic Church in Cornell is
in charge of the cemetery and holds the records. The oldest stone in the
cemetery belongs to Anna Wilcox Quesnell, 1915. (From the
Chippewa
County Cemetery Index by Donna Miller Bourget, 1998.)
The Poem
Harvard Number 749. (From The Complete Poems
of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson.)
Earliest known manuscript: c. 1863; First publication: 1929
All but Death, can be Adjusted –
Dynasties repaired –
Systems – settled in their Sockets –
Citadels – dissolved –
Wastes of Lives – resown with Colors –
By Succeeding Springs –
Death – unto itself – Exception –
Is exempt from Change –