The Long Pond Trail - Part 4

I'd hiked the trail along the shoreline of Long Pond in Grafton Lakes State Park with four of my dogs. But it was getting late and had turned cold and snowy. It was time to go. So I shot one last video of the beautiful lake and forest with the happy dogs enjoying their outing:



And then, having made my way back to my parked car, loaded up the dogs and began to drive away down the narrow gravel road:

But of course I kept my eyes open and soon spotted a tombstone and rock walls tucked up in the woods close to the road. I certainly had to stop and investigate:

Indeed it was an old family or community cemetery. It'd probably once been surrounded by farm fields, but now it was deep in a forest. Only a couple of tombstones were still standing. A group of others had been leaned together like a tepee, presumably to keep them off the ground and prolong their existence:

The lone standing gravestone which had any possibility of being read revealed mostly that the person had died in 1841. That person was named Joseph and was only 2 years old. The tombstone had been there with young Joseph beneath it for 169 years. Life was hard back then:

But of course I had four dogs waiting anxiously for me in the car. Snow was falling gently all around me and it was time to begin the trip home:

I passed by more signs warning hikers and hunters that they were sharing the forest with each other:

I drove out of the State Park and into the center of the small town of Grafton, New York. This old Baptist church with its red door brought back many memories. I'd been a deacon there a long time ago:

And across the town square was the Methodist church. I remembered that the Catholic church was nearby on a side street, but I didn't take a picture. It was time for me drive home: