Thanksgiving Message: Don't Take Life for Granted

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2015 I am uploading to my computer photographs I took yesterday at Charleston's beautiful and historic Magnolia Cemetery, about which I have written two books.

I am always touched by the gravesite of little Annie Kerr Aiken who was not quite 3 years old when the throat disease diphtheria took your young life in 1856. Passersby often place small toys and stuffed animals at this site, or as I saw yesterday, coins. Thirteen cents someone placed here- bad luck?



Well, you can't argue that Little Annie has bad luck and misfortune as many children did in the 18th and 19th centuries. Happy Thanksgiving everyone- and do be grateful and give thanks for the life you have. Do not take it for granted!

("The Children of Magnolia Cemetery" is a big chapter in my 2014 book, "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry". This book, and my 2011 "The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston's Secret Bird Sanctuary", are available on Amazon.com and at select Charleston area shops and historic sites.

"Little" Annie Kerr Aiken  (1853-56)

Annie was the daughter of Joseph and Ellen Aiken

Annie's site is a true masterpiece of Victorian funerary art

Annie has plenty of company in the expansive Aiken-Martin plot near Magnolia Cemetery's back lagoon