Yesterday, Saturday January 21, the Cemetery was open and we received about 365 visitors on that beautiful, balmy afternoon. Winter has been fairly mild in St Augustine so far, although earlier in the week we had some very nippy days, and it was nice that the weather cooperated with our Open Day.
Best of all, when we came in to set up, we found this lovely white violet, sure sign of early Spring!
TCPA board member and preservationist Matt Armstrong has a creative streak a mile wide, and once again he has surprised us with something completely different!
You may remember that Matt made a large 3-dimensional “map” or paper model of Tolomato several months ago. And yesterday, he presented the TCPA Board with our very own Cemetery in a Jar. Here it is next to a roll of tape for comparison purposes, although the photo doesn’t do it justice and convey how charming it is!
Matt constructed it out of plant materials of the kind used by model railroad builders, combined with tiny “markers” that he made out of self-hardening plastic modeling clay. And he built it in this small canning jar, just the way people used to build ships in bottles many years ago.
As a special treat, visitors to our next Open Day (Saturday, January 21) will have a chance to see this mini-cemetery “in person” on the table at the gate.
Here we are at Tolomato Cemetery on December 31, 2011 – the last day of a very busy year. The incoming year, 2012, looks to be equally busy as we continue the work of preserving and interpreting the cemetery and also embark on new projects, possibly even including a new fence and reconstructed wall. Details will be forthcoming after the TCPA has its first board meeting for 2012 this coming Thursday.
Happy New Year to all the friends of Tolomato Cemetery!
