Gravesfield

**Gravesfield** is a fictional town located in Connecticut (CT), United States, Earth.

## Background

Gravesfield was founded during the colonial era in 1635, within the colony of Connecticut. During Gravesfield's early history, witch hunting served as a key factor of the town's culture, with a significant portion serving as witch hunters. After being orphaned at a young age, the two brothers, Caleb and Philip Wittebane, settled in Gravesfield in the hopes of making a better life for themselves and became witch hunters as common among the populace.

At some point during this time, a real witch from the Demon Realm, named Evelyn, visited Gravesfield after somehow discovering a means of traveling between realms. After her arrival, she "lured" the older brother, Caleb, with her to the Demon Realm, while the younger brother Philip followed them in pursuit, with neither ever being seen again. Over the centuries, the story of the brothers' disappearance would serve as a legend in Gravesfield, with a statue of them together eventually being erected in the town square.

Centuries later, after receiving the Owl Beast curse, the young witch Edalyn Clawthorne discovered and used a mysterious portal door as a means of escape from her mother, Gwendolyn, ending up in Gravesfield. Over the next few decades, Eda would use this portal to terrorize the townsfolk under her alias "Marylin", as she stole and collected human-made garbage to sell in the Demon Realm, while at times occasionally sending her palisman Owlbert to collect in her stead.

A few years prior to "A Lying Witch and a Warden", Luz Noceda and her parents, Manny and Camila, would move to Gravesfield due to the town's close proximity to a nearby hospital that they hoped would help treat the illness that Manny had contracted, while Camila would be employed as a nurse at the local vet clinic. Despite this, however, Manny would eventually succumb to the illness and would be buried within the town's local cemetery, leaving both Luz and Camila in mourning. Additionally, Luz would endure both ostracism and ridicule from the town's populace for her eccentric quirks and aberrant behavior, resulting in her lacking any friends during her time in Gravesfield.

After being forced to go to Reality Check Summer Camp following a disastrous book report project at school, Luz left Gravesfield when she followed Owlbert into an abandoned house that led to the Boiling Isles where she would remain for the majority of the summer in the hopes of learning to become a witch. Unbeknownst to her, however, at the same time she traveled to the Demon Realm, the young basilisk Vee entered the Human Realm in order to avoid capture by the Emperor's Coven and took Luz's place living with Camila by posing as the human. While in the Demon Realm, however, Luz was forced to destroy the portal door to prevent Emperor Belos from utilizing it, resulting in her being trapped in the Demon Realm and unable to return to Gravesfield.

Following the Day of Unity and the unleashing of the Collector, however, Luz managed to return to Gravesfield through the rebuilt portal door, alongside her witch friends, Gus, Hunter, and Willow, and girlfriend Amity, before the the door's second destruction, which left them stranded in the Human Realm. Over the next few months, the group was sheltered by Camila in the Noceda residence before eventually returning to the Boiling Isles alongside Camila to defeat both Belos and Collector for good. After Belos's destruction and the Collector's redemption, the victorious Luz and her mother would return to Gravesfield by means of a new portal door constructed by the reformed Collector. Over the next four years, Luz utilized this portal to travel between Gravesfield and the Boiling Isles, to visit her loved ones in the Demon Realm while also continuing to attend Gravesfield High, with her and Vee eventually graduating. Following this, on her eighteenth birthday, Luz would leave Gravesfield for the Demon Realm, once again, in order to enroll and move into the University of Wild Magic.

## Places of interest

* **Town square**: An open public space found in town. It features a large statue of the Wittebane brothers, Caleb and Philip, during their adulthood as witch hunters. It is located across the street from Robin's Roast Café and the Gravesfield Historical Society museum.
* **Robin's Roast Café**: A café located in downtown Gravesfield across the street from the town square and the Gravesfield Historical Society museum. Eda was banned from the establishment after she tried to pay for a latte with a live raccoon, and then magically animated various pastries to attack the other patrons and staff to facilitate her getaway.
* **Noceda residence**: The home of the Noceda family, notably Camila Noceda and her daughter, Luz, until she ended up in the Demon Realm. Vee took her place, having posed as Luz until the episode "Yesterday's Lie", where she was exposed, but was allowed to stay with Camila. Following their stranding on Earth in "King's Tide," Luz, Amity, Gus, Hunter and Willow were sheltered at the residence by Camila for the next few months before their eventual return to the Demon Realm.
* **Old House:** An old, dilapidated house found in the forest near the Noceda residence. It is the location of the portal connecting the Human and Demon Realms, and was once filled with cameras set up by Jacob Hopkins. Shortly following the end of Emperor Belos, it was refurbished and purchased by the Noceda family.
* **Reality Check Summer Camp**: A summer camp in the wilderness for troublesome students in order to curb their behavior and make them "think inside the box". Vee impersonated Luz while attending this camp in Luz's place, helping her make three new human friends (including Masha) there in the process.
* **Gravesfield High**: A high school at Gravesfield where Luz, and eventually Vee, was enrolled in, before graduating in "Watching and Dreaming". Prior to going to the Demon Realm, it has been heavily suggested that Luz was ostracized and bullied by her classmates, for her eccentrics with her behavior often landing her in trouble with her teachers. After her book report project caused a major disruption at school, Luz was to be sent off to Reality Check Camp as punishment, indirectly leading to her arrival in the Demon Realm.
* **Gravesfield Historical Society (GHS)**: A museum within Gravesfield that also acted as the hideout for its prior curator, Jacob Hopkins located across the street from Robin's Roast Café and the town square. The museum is now overseen by Masha after Jacob was fired by his superiors for making several unauthorized, ego-stroking "edits" to the exhibits.
* **Gravesfield Graveyard**: A cemetery where deceased Gravesfield residents are buried at. Luz's father was buried here, as revealed in "Reaching Out".
* **Old Gravesfield**: The oldest section of Gravesfield, dating back to the early 17th century. It serves as the main location of the annual Gravesfield Halloween Festival, and the Haunted Hayride tour.

## Trivia

* The town's newspaper is called the Gravesfield Reporter, which Jacob worked for.
* Gravesfield's historical association with witches from the Demon Realm is partially inspired by the real-life Template:W of 1647 to 1663 that started the colonial New England Template:W, including the later infamous Template:W of 1692 to 1693.
* Gravesfield is part of the fictional Gravesfield County, and likely its county seat.
* According to story writer John Bailey Owen, Gravesfield is "a blend" of various towns and rural areas across Connecticut.
	+ Series creator Dana Terrace's hometown of Hamden, along her experiences while growing up there, served as a major inspiration for both Gravesfield and the series overall.
	+ Certain aspects of Gravesfield, such as the design of the town welcome sign, and the association with witches, were inspired by Wethersfield, Connecticut|Wethersfield, CT, which was a major site of the Connecticut witch trials.
	+ Before the premiere of "Thanks to Them", John Bailey Owen posted an image mock-up of the Gravesfield town website, which makes mention of the town being located along Template:W. This would place Gravesfield within the real-world Litchfield County, Connecticut.
		- A popular folk etymology for the name "Litchfield" gives its meaning as "field of corpses", the same as the meaning of "Gravesfield".
* The Gravesfield town seal is identical to the sigil used by Hunter when he was a Golden Guard. This hints that the inspiration behind the sigil came from Philip's previous life in Gravesfield.
* There currently exist some contradictions and historical inaccuracies regarding the details of Gravesfield's history.
	+ In "Thanks to Them" it is said that the Wittebane brothers arrived in Gravesfield in 1613, though in "Yesterday's Lie", it is stated that Gravesfield was not founded until 1635.
	+ Additionally, despite Gravesfield's history as originally being a British settlement, historically, the first Europeans to colonize Connecticut were the Dutch in 1614, with the English not colonizing it until 1636.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ticcu, Joseph (October 22, 2022). Disney's 'The Owl House' creator, a CT native, talks final season, local ties.
2. ↑ AdriánZGZ [@AdrinZGZ1] (August 23, 2021). "We all know Dana was born in Connecticut, but it also seems Luz's hometown of Gravesfield is based on Wethersfield, Connecticut. They had some of America's first ever witch trials, predating even the Salem Witch Trials. #TheOwlHouse" (Tweet). Liked by Dana Terrace. Retrieved August 31, 2023 – via Twitter.
3. ↑ Lichfield: The place and street names, population and boundaries.
4. ↑ Lichfiel, Encyclopædia Britannica.