The Big Sleep

Like, oh my god, I was totally traveling everywhere, and it was like, majorly exhausting, you know? I like literally needed to get some beauty sleep, majorly – but not like that “big sleep,” right? I mean, like, I was totally jet-lagged, but in a car.  I was totally going from Boston to, Amherst, and this trip was, like, so majorly chic, but whatever. It was literally, like, non-stop oh em gee. But I stopped anyway, as if I had a choice! I had to see those gorgeous Amherst cemeteries. Major glam, in, like, a goth way. So fun, right? Totally!

Hmm -- I don't think I'll be able to keep the Valley Girl talk going through out this entire post -- it would be, like, exhausting for me, and totally annoying for you, right?  LOL -- I just slipped a bit more in.  I couldn't help myself. 

Anyway, if you got the gist of that California-girl talk up above, then you know that I finally made it to Amherst from Boston -- and it's true -- my first stop was West Cemetery, the final resting place of Emily Dickinson, her sister, her parents and her grandparents. 

Below:  As you can see, the Dickinson family plot is surrounded by wrought iron fencing, and it comes right up to the graves.  As a result, it is difficult to get good pictures of the tombstones.

Below: From left to right, the graves are for Lavinia, Emily  their parents -- one tombstone for Edward and Emily Dickinson -- and grandparents -- one tombstone for Samuel Fowler Dickinson and his wife Lucretia.

Right:  In addition to all of the trinkets atop Emily's tombstone, my wife found a small poem left at her gravesite. 

Below left:  The cemetery included many other Dickinsons.  These are just a few of them.  

Below right:  This tombstone was for a family of Dickinsons, including one woman named "LOVINIA" (not, "LAVINIA"). 

Below:  There is a building behind the cemetery with a mural on Amherst's history.  To the right:  Close up shots of portions of the mural.  See if you can find young Emily, older Emily, her family members, Robert Frost, Mabel Loomis Todd, and others. 

Below and right:  Zephaniah Swift Moore is also buried in West Cemetery.  Moore was the first president of Amherst College.  I wrote about Moore in a post about various criminal activities from Amherst's past.  Did he really make off with the Williams College library when he accepted his position at Amherst?  Hmm...find out HERE.

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Below left and right:  In addition to documenting her obsession with death in many poems, Dickinson also wrote about her fixation on mortality in a best-selling, hard-boiled bit of grit-lit entitled The Big Sleep. 

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Following my visit to West Cemetery, I drove over to Wildwood Cemetery to see the graves of Austin Dickinson and his family, Mabel Loomis and David Peck Todd, and Mabel's parents. 

Left:  Up the road from the cemetery's main entrance and to the right is a triangular boulder.  It marks Austin Dickinson's grave -- although the marker for Dickinson (shown below) is on the opposite side from the road -- and the boulder is at the edge of his family's plot.  It was placed there in Austin's honor by Amherst college. 

Below and right:  For info on the Dickinson, Todd, and Loomis gravesites at Wildwood Cemetery, click HERE. 

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Below:  Further up the road from Austin Dickinson and his family are the graves for David Peck Todd, Mabel Loomis Todd, and Mabel's parents Eben Jenks Loomis and Mary Loomis. 

Below:  The graves of Mabel Loomis Todd and David Peck Todd: 

Below:  The graves of Mabel's parents, Eben Jenks Loomis and Mary Loomis. 

LOL -- I missed one great shot!  Here's the story:  As I was taking pics of the various tombstones -- and as my wife was taking pics of me -- all of a sudden, I realized that a police car had followed us up the road into the cemetery.  He backed in to a spot behind some trees, and he was watching us. 

I suppose someone had reported suspicious activity going on in the cemetery?  LOL.  You know how those senior delinquents are when they're free and roaming the streets!  Anyway, after snapping a few pics of the graves, I got up to take a pic of the cop car hidden among the trees -- but just as quietly as he had come, he vanished just as quietly. I missed getting the shot! 

My complete travelogue, "Dial 'Em' for Emily," is HERE. 

More posts from my trip are here:

07.31.2026:  A WICKED ADVENTURE IN THE HUB OF THE UNIVERSE, CLICK HERE. 
07.30.2026:  PAINT BY BLUNDERS, CLICK HERE. 
07.29.2026:  YABBA DABBA DO BE DO BE DO WOP BOP A LOO BOP A LOP BAM BOOM DEE AY, CLICK HERE. 
07.28.2026: NOT YOUR GARDEN VARIETY, CLICK HERE. 
07.27.2026: THE TROUBLES WITH EMILY, CLICK HERE. 
07.26.2026: THE MAN WHO BLOGGED TOO MUCH, CLICK HERE. 
07.25.2026:  STRANGE TURNS ON A TRAIN, CLICK HERE. 
07.24.2026:  HOW SWEETEST IT IS, CLICK HERE. 
07.23.2026:  A DATE WITH DESTINY, CLICK HERE.
07.22.2026:  THIS – IS THE BLOG POST – ​THE SUNSET WASHES, CLICK HERE.
07.21.2026:  DOUBLE ETERNITY, CLICK HERE. 
07.20.2026:  THE ORACLE WORE A WHITE DRESS -- PART DEUX, CLICK HERE.
07.19.2026:  ALL THINGS MATTER, CLICK HERE. 
07.18.2026:  INTRODUCTORY PLOG POST ABOUT "DIAL 'EM' FOR EMILY," CLICK HERE.