Benham Cemetery

Originally uploaded by appalachiancenter Last week Carol Shutt, a Kentucky Community Scholar, began her interviews for her project to document Harlan County Funerary Customs. She met with a variety of people around the county and visited several local cemeteries as shown in the picture.

Shutt said, “Our traditions are changing in regard to what we place at the grave to honor our loved ones. In recent years not only have we placed flowers and flags near the grave but also items that remind us of things that were important to the person buried there. Notice the wind chimes in this photo. These are found in cemeteries with increasing frequency. You can also see the bench, the squirrel statue and the angel in the photo. I wondered, what was their significance?”

Shutt will return for another week of interviews for this project in October. You are welcome to make a comment, or post some of your own family traditions and funeral customs here on our blog site. Or, if you would like to be interveiwed for this project you can contact Theresa Osborne, 589-3136, in the Appalachian Program Office on the SKCTC Cumberland Campus.

This project was made possible through a grant from the Kentucky Oral History Commission and the Kentucky Arts Council.

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