Three weeks of boondocking in the desert and all the activities of the RV show and group gatherings, left me with a desire to have some alone-time. As a result, I left Quartzsite to travel 15 miles down the road to Ehrenberg and a RV resort with sewer, water, electricity, cable TV.... and a hot tub. The place is tranquil and perhaps a little too isolated after all the group activities of the previous weeks. Across the street from this Ehrenberg resort is a pioneer cemetery. A perfect place to take a meditative walk. The grave sites were mostly unmarked and consisted of nothing more than a pile of rocks to outline the site of the remains below. A sign indicated that the cemetery dated back to the early settlers who ventured across the country in covered wagons. As I walk from grave to grave, names and stories unfolded in my mind. I don't know if it was psychic impressions of the real people buried there or just my active imagination. Whatever it was, there are stories buried there ready for someone to uncover them. 
I was struck by the great number of small graves, indicating the many children who died. There may have been an epidemic or perhaps the pioneer lifestyle took it's toll on these fragile young lives. At one adult size grave the name Elizabeth came to me. I imagined a beautiful young wife giving birth to her first child. But the child was still born and the mother died hours later leaving behind a grieving husband, Ben. Ben is buried nearby; his dreams of a bright future were buried with Elizabeth and the unnamed baby boy. Ben never recovered from the tragedy and drank himself to a slow horrible death years later. 
Another huge mound of rocks told the story of a mass burial of a family of seven wiped out by the flames that consumed their home. And another large grave may have been the resting place of a cowboy who was buried with his horse. There are many stories hidden here at the little cemetery in Ehrenberg Arizona. Stories that will have to be left up to the imagination because the graves are unmarked and the real stories are buried with the bones. From Ehrenberg, Arizona, Linda |
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