Episode 12: In The Cemetery
In this season’s finale, Caitlin and Francesgrace zoom out a little and discuss cemeteries themselves. Caitlin, at North Burial Ground, goes back to where it all began and Francesgrace, at Ancient Little Neck Cemetery, is unclear about whether she’s in Rhode Island or Massachusetts.
LINK TO SHOW NOTES
Season 1. Episode 12. In The Cemetery. The Finale.
Caitlin: Hello, and welcome to Grave Escapes, the podcast helps those who've died tell their stories once again.
INTRO MUSIC
Caitlin: Hi, Frances.
Frances: Hi.
Caitlin: So this is a special episode. This is the final episode of our first season.
Frances: Wooooow. We managed to get all the way here.
Caitlin: Yeah, it's like episode 12. It's nuts.
Frances: Hehe
Caitlin: Okay. So we wanted to do something kind of special for you all…instead of actually taking on graves are going to take on a cemetery.
Frances: Yes.
Caitlin: So Frances and I have both research two different cemeteries that we want to talk about and their history. We are going to be taking a break for about a month, and then we will be back with Season Two. But during that time, we might have a couple of surprises for you all so stick around, keep checking back.
Frances: Watch the feed.
Caitlin: I also just want to let you all know, we are currently recording during a heatwave. So if you do hear a hum in the background, it's because there is no possibility whatsoever that either of us could go without air conditioning for this this recording so we apologize, but it's a comfort thing.
Frances: I’m…I swear to god today's like official emoji was the melting face.
Caitlin: I saw that in England, there's an art installation that's like a melted ice cream truck onto the floor. And yeah, like same.
Frances: They hit a record high of 102.4 today in England.
Caitlin: My hometown is 108 degrees today.
Frances: We're literally on fire. Like the whole world is literally on fire right now.
Caitlin: You know what they say, Frances, is my world's on fire. That's the way I like it.
Frances: And I'll never get bored…anyway.
Caitlin: Oh, good God. So thank you all for a wonderful first season. I guess we'll go ahead and announce our cemeteries Frances, do you want to go first since I've got the cemetery that kind of started it all as…as mine?
Frances: Sure. We are…we have a plethora of…like we're spoiled for choice here with historic cemeteries.
Caitlin: That’s an incredibly interesting way to say that and true.
Frances: So there were several that I looked at that I was like, I really want to do these and I will at some point in the future, but for our inaugural cemetery episode, I picked Ancient Little Neck Cemetery in Riverside.
Caitlin: I feel like I feel like that's near me. Oh, to give some context to so for those of you not from Rhode Island. Rhode Island has an… I'm one of those people. Rhode Island has this very interesting habit where it has a city, but within that city, it names like three different other cities that are not actually cities. They're like boroughs.
Frances: Yeah, neighborhoods.
Caitlin: Yeah. It's weird. Maybe that's just a me thing. In the city of East Providence, there are multiple borough-city things, and one of them is called Riverside. Fun fact. If you are from Riverside, you are affectionately known as a river rat.
Frances: Fair. You don't live in Riverside, though. You live in Rumford?
Caitlin: No, I do live in East Providence. I don't live in Riverside. I live in another borough city called Rumford.
Frances: Yeah.
Caitlin: With that, Frances, tell me about the cemetery in Riverside.
Frances: Okay. So before I actually tell you about the cemetery in Riverside, I have to tell you a little bit about the history of East Providence.
Caitlin: Oh, I'm here for this because I don't actually know much about it. And I live in East Providence.
Frances: So when I was looking at the cemetery, I was extremely confused for about three minutes before I realized that New England-everything changed its name at some point. So the cemetery was founded in 1655. Right, so very, very early in Rhode Island history. Back when Rhode Island didn't exist…In fact, it really sort of did. But it wasn't one thing. And this area of Rhode Island that we're in was actually part of Massachusetts.
Caitlin: Mhm.
Frances: So this was Rehoboth.
Caitlin: Yes, I have recently learned that as well.
Frances: We were all in Rehoboth. It’s actually…so it's a small ruralish town now in Massachusetts, just over the border. But in Ye Olde Day, back in 1655, it encompassed not only itself, but also Seekonk and East Providence, also some of Attleboro, North Attleboro, Swansea, Somerset, Barrington, Bristol, Warren, Pawtucket, Cumberland, and Woonsocket.
Caitlin: Okay.
Frances: It was—
Caitlin: That’s everything
TBC…
OUTRO MUSIC
Caitlin: Grave Escapes is hosted, written and produced by Caitlin Howle and Francesgrace Ferland and is produced and edited by Jesse D. Crichton. The music is melancholy after sound by Kai Engel. Follow us on social media to see images of today's graves and more about us. Our social handle is Grave Escapes. For a transcript, show notes, and land acknowledgement, visit us online at www.graveescapes.com We'll see you in the cemetery.
Frances: We’d like to acknowledge that we recorded this podcast on the traditional lands of the Wampanoag, Pokanoket, and Narragansett peoples. Here in the Northeast and all across the country, native peoples are still here and thriving. For more information about indigenous history, we’ve added a link in the show notes to An Indigenous People’s History of the United States as a place to begin. For ways to support native leaders and communities, we’ve added links to both the North American Indian Center of Boston and Native Land Conservancy.
