Sand Hill Cemetery, Bald Eagle State Park

Spring is here, more or less. The mornings have been bitter cold, but the afternoons have been sunny and nice. You know what they say about springtime: winter in the morning, summer in the afternoon. (Though it's yet to reach anything approximating summer temps in the afternoons around here!)

On nice days, when the sun is out and the roads are clear, we like to take my new car out for an adventure. My husband proposed that we head to Bald Eagle State Park. We'd been there about two weeks ago, and hiked all around the Skyline Drive and Swamp Oak Trails; visited a Very Big Tree.

Where should we go this time? To a different part of the park, of course. So we headed over to Upper Greens Run Road, which has some interesting things to see. (For the locals, this road may be accessed from route 150, North Eagle Valley Road; watch for signs.)

First we drove all the way to the end of the road, and parked in a little parking lot overlooking the lake. I mention the word lake, but there really is none right now, as the water has all been drained down to a single channel, in anticipation of spring rains.

What is left looks like a vast wasteland, or a scene after the apocalypse: bits of road, lots of brown mud, tree stumps, tires, garbage, the detritus left behind when you see what lies beneath - what's usually hidden by the waters.

There are numerous abandoned roads in the park; you know, ones that used to be common travel paths, but no longer are. They were closed off when the lake was made, but you can walk them still. Our third stop was another little parking lot, another hike along another abandoned road.

Our middle - and probably my favorite - stop was what you see above, Sand Hill Cemetery. It is a lovely little graveyard on a hill overlooking the lake, and it is full of graves dating from the 1700s and 1800s, and even a few 1900s. The majority are from the 1800s, I'd say, and the stones bear names like Confer, Gardner, Gunsalus, Leathers, and Lucas.

There is a new bench there now that was not there when we visited a few years ago. The grounds are surrounded by trees and covered in green moss and leaves. The grass is growing a bit tall in the cemetery itself, but otherwise it appears relatively well tended. It would not be so bad to have one's bones lie here; no, I think not.

Old Glory flies proudly from this hill; numerous flags decorate the graves of veterans of both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. It is a peaceful, beautiful spot, well worth spending some time in on a sunny winter-into-spring afternoon.

As my soundtrack song, I've picked an 80s favorite: the Cutting Crew, with I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight.