Graveyards and cemeteries mean as much to me as historic sites themselves. When you see someone’s resting place they become more than just a figure in a book. Plus, they’re a good reminder of one’s own mortality. Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi.

I took the image below of John Nixon’s resting place in Philadelphia’s Saint Peter’s Church cemetery in Society Hill last Saturday and knew immediately that I would post it today. His name may not be familiar, but it was he who read the Declaration of Independence for the first time. Colonel Nixon read the text from the State House steps on July 8, 1776 while couriers were racing to the other colonies to spread the word. The famous reading in New York City’s Bowling Green with its tearing down of the statue of George III was the following day. His table-design headstone was damaged by a fallen tree sometime in the past, as this unfortunately undated post on the St. Peter’s Church website explains. Diarist Christopher Marshall described the scene at the State House 247 years ago today as a “Warm sunshine morning. At eleven, went and met [the] Committee of Inspection at [the] Philosophical Hall; went from there in a body to the lodge; joined the Committee of Safety (as called); went in a body to [the] State House Yard, where, in the presence of a great concourse of people, the Declaration of Independence was read by John Nixon.” If one is Philadelphia today, the NPS is having its annual re-enactment at 11:45 this morning there at Independence Hall.