(c) 2007 John RowlandsOn a number of occasions Lovecraft visited Haverhill, generally to visit with his acquaintance, C.W. “Tryout” Smith. Haverhill, MA, a city on the Merrimack River near the New Hampshire border, was established in 1641. This area was originally called Pentucket which means "land of the winding river," by the local Pentucket Indian tribe.
The Pentucket Cemetery is located on Water Street in Haverhill and was established in 1668. It's located adjoining the Linwood Cemetery. This is a very early burying ground with several interesting early carvings. A few stones here date to the 1600's. One of them was Nathaniel Peaslee’s whose tombstone which reads:
Many of the tombstones in Pentucket Cemetery describe a new epidemic disease, known as the throat distemper, or, throat-ail, but we know it today as diphtheria. This was not limited to any one town or any small section of New England, as I have seen it on many tombstones. This epidemic soon became the putrid sore throat disease and was described as “the general description of it was a swelled throat, with white or ash-colored specks, efflorescence on the skin, great debility of the whole system and a strong tendency to putridity.” In 1735 it was an epidemic throughout New England states.
Lovecraft believed that children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse. He got some of his best ideas from his visit to local cemeteries.
The Pentucket Cemetery is located on Water Street in Haverhill and was established in 1668. It's located adjoining the Linwood Cemetery. This is a very early burying ground with several interesting early carvings. A few stones here date to the 1600's. One of them was Nathaniel Peaslee’s whose tombstone which reads:
“HERE LIES INTERRED Ye PRECIOUS DUST OF Mr NATHANAEL PEASLEE JUNr Ye ONLY & DESIRABLE SON OF Mr NAthLL PEASLEE WHO WITH COMFORT TOOK HIS YOUTHFUL FLIGHT FROM Ye PROMISING JOYS OF EARTHLY POSSESSIONS IN HOPE OF A FAR MORE EXCEEDING & ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY ON SEPT Ye 9 1730 AGED 23 YEARS.”
Many of the tombstones in Pentucket Cemetery describe a new epidemic disease, known as the throat distemper, or, throat-ail, but we know it today as diphtheria. This was not limited to any one town or any small section of New England, as I have seen it on many tombstones. This epidemic soon became the putrid sore throat disease and was described as “the general description of it was a swelled throat, with white or ash-colored specks, efflorescence on the skin, great debility of the whole system and a strong tendency to putridity.” In 1735 it was an epidemic throughout New England states.
Lovecraft believed that children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse. He got some of his best ideas from his visit to local cemeteries.
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