13. Outside, we stepped into the cemetery. The tallest monument -- also visible in a church photo from the 1890s -- still looks sharp more than a century after it was installed on the graves of William and Sarah Shepard...

14. ...and the young spruce tree growing in the middle of that same old picture is now a healthy giant, shading the tombstones at upper right. Gathering outside the cemetery fence, we pooled our flowers...

15. ...before laying them on the graves. Here, Debbie Englert and Linda Hannan place brown-eyed susans. At far left is Michelle Sands; at right, the boughs of the old spruce.

16. Emma, with a carnation in one hand and a friend in the other

17. Erin decorates her grandfather's grave.

18. Barb Westby puts flowers on the grave of Jakin M. Barber, who died December 2, 1846, at age 25. "There are many Barbers in the cemetery," she says, "and it was sad to see that most died very young."

19. Kenny Lee's grave, overlooking the brook

20. Leandra