The Mystery in the Brownfield Cemetery.

Dear Diary,

This cemetery is a few miles north of me. I've been by it hundreds of times and didn't know it contained a mystery. I just recently learned about the moving balls and had to see for myself.

These monuments were popular during the late 18th century and there are two of them in this cemetery. The large highly polished granite balls are not cemented to the top and, over time, they rotate on their own! You can see the small unpolished circle, if I come back a year later and photograph this stone again (and of course I will!) I will see the circle will have moved a few inches.

No one is exactly sure why they move erratically. My favorite theory is that slight earth tremors, which we have because New England lies on a fault line, causes the unsecured stones to turn. Whatever the reason, it will be fun to go back there in a year's time and see if it has, indeed, moved!

I also learned a new word on my visit - "cenotaph" - which is written at the top. I had to go home and look it up. It means the people listed below are not actually interred in the grave, but buried else where. Since I love to photograph in cemeteries all around the world, I'm surprised I've never come across this word.

On the other side of the stone is the name of a soldier from the Revolutionary War; on this side the Civil War and WWI.

Happy Birthday America!

(You can see the huge thunderheads reflected in the polished stone, our fireworks display will be postponed until tomorrow night. Tonight is a washout!)