Before you read this, make sure you read part one by clicking HERE… This post won’t mean anything without the first part of the story.
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I programmed my GPS for Eureka Springs, Arkansas via Berryville. Berryville added twenty miles to my route in theory, longer considering I would stop to take pictures of whatever caught my eye along the way. It’s what I do.
I took five tree pictures before even leaving the Fayetteville city limits (confusing the heck out of my GPS woman…recalculating…)
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| Fayetteville, Ar |
A few miles before reaching Berryville, I saw a sign for Farmer Cemetery. How could not stop at Farmer Cemetery?
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| Farmer Cemetery, Berryville, Ar |
I stopped even though a graveside service was just concluding. (Yes, I crashed a funeral…recalculating…) Trying to blend in, I nonchalantly strolled underneath the iron gate and walked straight to the largest tombstone as though I belonged there, as though I visited a great-great-relative.
Ingersoll?
Hmmmm, wasn’t Ingersoll the author of the book I read last night—Arkansas in Retrospect?
The grave belonged to a couple born in the 1800s—not my book’s author—but still, same last name! Chill bumps…
Was Ingersoll a common name? Probably, I told myself.
Back in my car, I pulled the book from my bag and looked again to make sure the spelling was the same.
It was.
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| Arkansas in Retrospect, William Henry Ingersoll |
We are travelers on a cosmic journey… Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Well, that gave me goose bumps! I wonder what would Theresa Caputo say?:):):)
I wonder!
Wow! Incredible! 🙂
I still can’t get my arms around this incredible coincidence.
Goosebumps,. for sure. Life throws us gentle reminders that this is, indeed, a small planet, doesn’t it?
Yes for sure Gayle!
Love it.
Thanks Kevin!
Love it.
I love serendipity like that. You know where you should submit this story? The Odds Must Be Crazy. It’s a website where people submit their stories of wild coincidences, and the experts on statistics who run the site try to give you something approaching the actual odds of it, if they have enough information to go on.
Wow cool Gary. Thanks for the info.
I love it. I’m a stop-and-take-pictures person, too. Not a good trait in combo with my predilection to take back roads in lieu of Interstate highways. Sometimes drives Annette nuts, especially when she is driving … “WAIT! STOP! STOP! … Well then, back up….” oh, yeah, that works 🙂
I find the best things on the back roads! Thanks for commenting Tom. I know it took effort for you – LOL.
Wait! I hear something in the walls of my writing room! And a shower of leaves rained down before my eyes. Eerie, goosebumpy for sure, just like your great experience with the Ingersolls.
Did you hear the strange howling this morning around 5?
Continue to write…is this Serendipity telling another story?
I wonder Jane. I haven’t been able to find much information on Mr. Ingersoll. I did discover he too was buried in this same cemetery although I never saw his tombstone.
Simply amazing! the quote is perfect for the experience.
Thanks Dorothy!
That is incredible! It’s amazing how everything comes together in this world!
For sure! Thanks Diana.
That’s so cool! I love visiting cemeteries (I know that sounds strange). I just like to walk through & look at the headstones, names & dates.
I often stop and take pictures in cemeteries. The tombstones are history and artwork combined.
Wow…what a trip to just stumble on that!
I agree!
That’s a cool story- even more so for me, since I think John Ingersoll is my great great grandfather. I came upon your post while doing genealogical research, and I was wondering if I could find where he was buried in Arkansas. Now I know!
Wow! This experience continues to amaze me. Would you like the book? Seems it should stay in the Ingersoll family!