It may be that the only characteristic truly indigenous to post-Columbus America is change, and that our notion of permanence exists only as an artificial construct. Our buildings survive more than a century only if they are given a special historical designation. Our myths outlast our roads and highways, which require their own perpetual care. The great railway that held a fledgling Canada together against political and economic forces of disintegration is in many places being dismantled and converted to nature trails. The indoor shopping mall has replaced Main Street.
Cemeteries remain largely untouched by the juggernaut of change.
Sometimes an excavation for a new building will uncover the remains of a Potters Field. Coffins will shift position underground and emerge in sewer systems or in ditches or out of a river bank. So often they are hidden from sight at the end of a long drive, camouflaged by strategically-placed fences and shrubbery. If they are open and visible, as they are in this city, they have all but lost their significance for the general populace. M y eldest daughter graduated from high school this year.