Worcester Sunday

The Old Graveyard

Yesterday was a normal Sunday except I had to spend the afternoon back at City Hall Plaza in Worcester.  It was a lot quieter yesterday than on Saturday.  It afforded me an opportunity to wander around a little bit.  I’ve always been a bit of a history nut and I found some neat little pieces of history that I’ve been by a thousand times before but never stopped to check out before yesterday.  There was a Revolutionary War era graveyard in the middle of the common behind city hall.  There was a small fence around the nearly 300 year old graves and one was noted for a veteran of most of the battles of the Revolution.  I was talking to one of my co-workers and he said the graveyard used to be much more extensive but many of the graves were moved to allow the center of the city to develop.  Apparently about twenty years ago they were excavating for a new bus shelter and uncovered a couple of bodies.  Shades of Poltergeist!  Not all of the bodies got moved when the gravestones were which may explain some of the odd goings on at the bus shelter.  There was also a very impressive Civil War memorial that towered over the common and a more understated memorial to World War 2.  Directly adjacent to City Hall was a very simple but poignant tribute to the first wave of Irish immigrants who did so much to help this country expand.  It was a simple Celtic cross but for some reason very moving.  There was a statue for a Worcester area World War 2 marine named Powers who was killed at the battle of Kwajalein and decorated for valor.  Interestingly shortly after I saw the statue a navy veteran walked up to our booth and was wearing a hat for the USS Powers which is a navy ship named after the same marine.  Finally, directly behind our booth was a statue for a prominent politician from the late 1800s.  He wasn’t prominent outside of the Worcester area but I think he must have been a good man for the people of his time to have erected this impressive monument.  It also goes to show the fleeting nature of life’s accomplishments but I like to think a life well lived was worth remembering.  As I said above, I've walked by these places a thousand times and never took the time to check them out.  Some times it's all about slowing down and looking around.

The Civil War Memorial

The Irish Memorial

The World War 2 Memorial

Powers Memorial

The Prominent Politician