An Unexpected Beauty

History, what a somber and fascinating journey you are about to embark on. As you gaze through the mesmerizing photographs of Coastal North Carolinas Burying Grounds, Cemeteries and Graveyards.
In June 2015 I met Leanna Thorndike and like most of us I had only entered these areas either saying goodbye or to visit a loved one. Little did I know all of that was about to change. Once I visited Smithville Burying Ground in Southport NC, I could see her vision of how important it was to photograph and tell the stores of these humble places. With studying these headstones, I realized there was a story, I found sadness and yes tears were shed when finding children, young men and families lost at such a young ages yet at the same time realizing the history in what these families had gone through. If not for the sacrifices they made centuries ago in the early years of this country, we would not have the great country we have today. As of that day I was hooked on continuing the journey with Leanna and with the vision she had of documenting this journey.
In June of 2016 Felica Sexton joined our adventure, since all of us worked full time still visiting and taking photos on weekends. We, by we I mean Leanna, who has a great eye for photographs we took thousands of photos as we travel costal NC. In June of 2017 after two years of traveling and taking photos we knew it was time to begin the next step, deciding which photos we would place in our book. This alone took months to decide, then moving on to the editing, placement and cropping of the photos this where the expertise of Felica came into play. With untold hours of placement of pictures and verbiage on pages are book started to take shape and with every page completed we know the hard weekends of the past 3 plus years was a work of love.
In studying some of the headstones we learned the ones that looked like tables were in fact used on Sundays when the families would gather for picknicks, these same tables were also used in the Civil War as table for field hospitals. We also learned that the small lamb headstones where normally for small children.
As you gaze through this book take time to really look as some of the headstone one or two of these may speak to you, if they do please take the time and look them up, as I did with Calvin Smith just a normal headstone that for some reason spoke to me. These sacred places of centuries ago have come under decay over the centuries due to Mother Nature, Vandals, Neglect, and Relocations, it is up to all of us as caretakers to watch over these most sacred of places.

Linda K. Audy