El Morro Cemetery, Puerto Rico. Photo source: ©© Kevin Baird.
“A cemetery is a place of respect for the dead and its location is chosen with the expectation that it will be there for generations. Cemeteries in coastal areas were not located with the expectation that they would flood or fall into the sea…”—William J. Neal & Orrin H. Pilkey (2013-©)
Excerpts;
In June of 1662, hundreds of Native Americans from the Iroquois nation were killed on the shore of Lake Superior by local Chippewa defending their land.
Now, 357 years later, the burial site of local natives killed in that battle is being threatened by an eroding shoreline fueled by the rising water levels of Lake Superior…
Read Full Article; MLive (06-24-2020)
Cemeteries in the Sea; By William J. Neal & Orrin H. Pilkey; By Orrin H. Pilkey & William J. Neal (11-01-2013)
“Cemeteries by the sea are silent sentinels. Like lighthouses and coastal fortifications, they bear dates of former times when they were on high and dry land…”
Our coastal cemeteries are falling into the sea; By Orrin H. Pilkey & William J. Neal
Cemeteries in coastal areas were not located with the expectation that they would flood or fall into the sea. But most of the world’s ocean and estuarine shorelines are eroding — some slowly like California’s rocky coasts, and others rapidly like the Carolinas’ barrier island coasts…
