Mary McCroskey asked if I wanted to go take pictures today. Yes! She’s a good photographer, and she knows I need help. We headed out to two area cemeteries…the Hendrick’s Cemetery and the Mendota Cemetery.

The Hendrick’s Cemetery is surrounded by Steve and Mary’s property, so that’s where we went first.   It is a beautiful place.  Peaceful.  I overexposed this picture a bit, but I like it that way.

I visited the grave of one of my mother’s high school boyfriends. Hello Tom Hendricks.  Tom remained a bachelor all of his life and was a good friend to my parents. Tom’s resting place is  appropriate…his grave is in site of the house he lived in (which is now my friend Helene’s home)  and he’s in view of Clinch Mountain, the North Fork, and the cows.   If there was a tobacco patch nearby, the setting would be perfect.

The cows are used to quietness up here on the hill.

This must be a smart cow…her number is 2345. Hello cow!

Look! She laughed at me!

We also visited the Mendota Cemetery. I’ve included pictures of this cemetery before, but I was looking for something today. I’d written about Peter Livingston Barker several times (see here and here) , and I knew he was buried in this cemetery but I could not find his grave.

Today, I found it. Hello Peter Livingston Barker…Hello Grandfather!

There are lots of Barkers in this cemetery because there are lots of Barkers in Southwest Virginia. We moved to Ohio when I was nine years old. We had our first phone at that time! I recall looking in the phone directory for a familiar name but there were only 22 Barkers in all of Cincinnati! I could not believe that there were not a lot of Barkers in Ohio!! I made up my mind to get back to Mendota and soon! We didn’t last 24 months.

The Benfield girls (more lifelong Mendota friends), and I used to cut through the woods near the cemetery going to and from their house before and after school when I spent the night with them. Here’s the path…we used to walk it with our books on our heads.

This is my favorite picture from today’s visit. Mary–there might be hope for me!

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. During the past 4 weeks, this blog had a little over 1200 visits and 2500 page views. Thank you for doing whatever you are doing that encourages others to stop by. I greatly appreciate it!! XXOO Eva