Dust to dust

Dearly departed
Unto dust thou shalt return
The circle endures

Rebecca, wife of Thomas, died January 27, 1869 at the age of 50. She is buried, surrounded by her family, in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Pensacola, FL. Her white granite gravestone is encased in the base of an old oak tree. The bole is at least 9 feet in circumference. That would mean that the tree began to grow about the same time as Rebecca’s interment. Perhaps it was planted intentionally at the same time.

The spread of the base covers her entire burial plot. I can only imagine that the roots of this majestic oak have encased her casket as snuggly as her gravestone.