Two New England Cemeteries

 

Last October, when it seemed relatively safe to travel out of state, my wife and I went to visit our older son and his family in Williamstown, Massachusetts, whom we had not seen in person since early in 2019.

Williamstown is the home of Williams College, where our son and his wife are professors in the Economics department.  

It's a classic New England college town, with landmark museums . . .

churches . . .

and educational facilities . . .

all nestled in the green rolling hills and forests of the Berkshires in rural western Massachusetts.

Naturally, Williamstown and its larger neighbor to the east, North Adams, have very old, well-tended, and photogenic cemeteries, which I was able to photograph.  I spent most of my time in two of them:  Westlawn  in Williamstown . . .

and Hillside in North Adams.

I enjoy exploring cemeteries for the stories the headstones, grave markers, and monuments tell as well as for their visual interest.  The lighting (at different times of day or year) and the spatial arrangement and conditions of the stones provide a range of moods and drama.  Here are some examples.  

First, from Westlawn Cemetery in Williamstown:

And from Hillside Cemetery in North Adams:

Finally, as I was reviewing and processing my images, there were some that I thought might be more dramatic or interesting in black-and-white or in stylized sepia, rather than in color.  Here are a few examples with two (or three) versions of the same image . . . you be the judge:

If you would like to see these images (and more) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!