Cemetary Orinantion

[DrRod]

We have an old cemetery on our land. There had been a Drunkard log church there in the 19th century. The more recent parts of the cemetery is oriented so that the graves face east. As I understand it, people were traditionally buried with their feet to the east so that at the second coming they could rise to meet Jesus, coming as the sun. But a large, old part of the cemetery has the graves laid out north/south. I've always wondered about this. Can anyone offer any thoughts on this.

Thank you

 

[DrRod]

Should have said "orientation" -- broke my glasses this evening.

 

[Wagtail]

Quoted from Google: 'There was an article recently, I believe in the Raleigh, North Carolina News and Observer [2003], where the author wrote about old cemeteries, and noted that traditionally most persons were buried east-to-west, although persons of ill-repute were buried north-to-south []. At one cemetery he came across one of the latter, and said to his companion that "this guy must have done something bad". An old women nearby overheard him, and replied, "We don't talk about it".'

Mostly though, it wasn't/isn't a hard & fast rule as to orientation. It's mostly tradition regarding your OP understanding + it's easier to initially 'lay out' the cemetery in one direction as opposed to a higgledy-piggledy, every-which-way method.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

They should do it like a game of Tetris! Complete a line and go to heaven.

 

[TomSeller]

Have yourself cremated, then you have all orientations covered.

 

[om21braz]

Local church has graves dating back to 1757. Most are laid out East-West. A few that did not have markers have been found while digging a new one - that can present quite a problem nowadays.

 

[k0ua]

We have an old cemetery on our land. There had been a Drunkard log church there in the 19th century. The more recent parts of the cemetery is oriented so that the graves face east. As I understand it, people were traditionally buried with their feet to the east so that at the second coming they could rise to meet Jesus, coming as the sun. But a large, old part of the cemetery has the graves laid out north/south. I've always wondered about this. Can anyone offer any thoughts on this.

Thank you

I bet a dollar you meant to say Dunkard log church, NOT Drunkard log church

 

[GPintheMitten]

I bet a dollar you meant to say Dunkard log church, NOT Drunkard log church

I wondered about that but didn't want to question anyone's religion.

 

[CurlyDave]

I bet a dollar you meant to say Dunkard log church, NOT Drunkard log church

Somehow I thought it meant that the logs were placed unevenly.

 

[bcp]

Maybe...

Drunkard Church

Bruce