The Family Cairns

 

Do these gravestones look a bit unfamiliar to you? I like to think of them as a way of merging a little bit of the old ways with the new. My father, James Hoyt Mullins, was an avid genealogist and had traced his family roots into Scotland and Ireland, (among other locales), and was particularly fascinated by his Celtic culture. One particular aspect of that culture was the tradition of building a “cairn.”

 

My research on cairns however, proves to go back further into history than my father knew. Cairn graves were built on the Finnish coastline during the Bronze Age. Amazing isn’t it?

 

A cairn by Webster’s Dictionary definition is: a conical heap of stones built as a monument or a landmark. Similarly, Ireland and Scotland’s landscape is dotted with many cairns, all erected for a particular reason. One such cairn that still exists today is King Orry’s Grave, in Laxey.

King Orry's Grave, Laxey
All photographs (c)
David J Radcliffe

 

A concrete foundation was poured first and allowed to set, then each stone was carefully selected according to the size of the cairn. Colored sandstone was the stone of choice and was used in both cairns. Sandstone comes in a wide variety of beautiful colors and is especially plentiful in this area. It is also one of the easiest stones with which to build a cairn such as this. It’s easily cut and chipped into a various shapes when necessary.

 

After the four sides were constructed and the top was as level as possible, a capstone was cemented on the top. The capstone was also of sandstone. Different colored mortar could be used for a different look to the seams in the cairn.

 

My father designed and built his father this Appalachian cairn, never knowing that he had started a family tradition. When my father died, my brothers designed and built a similar cairn for him. We knew he cared enough to build his own father a unique monument so we felt that he would also want something just as unique for himself. My brothers have told me that this was a special time for them, working and laboring over Dad’s grave, erecting a monument for him. It gave them time to come to terms with his death and his life. It also gave them a chance to build something to honor the life that he lived.

It was the best and yet the most difficult task they have ever had to finish. We have often wondered how Dad felt while he and his brothers built their father’s cairn. Probably the thoughts that came to their minds while laboring over their father’s cairn were similar to my brothers as they did the same. This is just one more link in the chain of life.

 

We also had a bronze plaque fashioned with my father’s name, birth and death date and a quote placed on the front. The quote states: “A man of the mountains, A man for God.” We also had our favorite picture of him, engraved, by laser, on the side. This picture was a charcoal drawing of my father in his mountain man attire; a linsey-woolsey shirt, fringed pants, powder horn, tri-corn hat, and holding a Kentucky Mountain Long Rifle, or more commonly known as a muzzleloader.

 

My father often traveled to various places and spoke to groups about these mountains, and the people who settled here and made them home. He wore an eye-patch, which made him look like the “mountain-man” he so often portrayed. While at the young age of 21, a muzzleloader he owned, blew up in his face, causing irreparable damage to his eye. The eye-patch was just one more fascinating aspect of my father’s life. Although blind in one eye, he never considered that he was handicapped in any way.

 

He often played his guitar and sang songs of the mountain people, and the hardships they endured while settling this land. Children were especially fascinated by his mountain songs and tales and often begged for particular favorites when he went to visit. This charcoal drawing of him was done in Asheville, North Carolina by a well-known artist, VanRensselaer. Mr. VanRensselaer happened to be in the audience during one of my father’s recitation/dramas of mountain life. He drew this picture of my father during the drama and presented it to him after his performance.

 

 

When my time for “planting” in this Appalachian soil comes, I want one of these cairns built as a monument for me. And so it goes…

 

~Kathy Dingus

 

In memory of James Hoyt Mullins

 

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The above article and photos were provided by Kathy Dingus.

 

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This page updated February 21, 2006