It was a busy (and rainy!) weekend so I was looking for a short outing; some place nearby, perhaps with a waterfall and some colorful fall foliage – a great combination to photograph on a cloudy day. So I checked my friend Eli Burakian’s book Hiking New England Waterfalls for some ideas. Ahah! True’s Brook, just south of West Lebanon; amazingly, after 36 years living in the Upper Valley, I’d never visited True’s Ledges along True’s Brook. It was roaring with runoff from the weekend’s heavy rains, and not in great shape for photographs, so I snapped a few with my iPhone and decided to wander on up the road and over into Meriden. Come see what I found!
As I wandered up True’s Brook road, I noted an old cemetery on the map. Unmarked and barely visible along a dusty dirt road, I was lucky to find it. A couple dozen graves were still visible, often marked with only a rough boulder or a rough slab whose writing had long since weathered into history. I did find the True family, however!
At left is a headstone In memory of Mr Reuben True Who Died June 30th 1799 In the 64th Year of his age. Below, his epitaph repeats a refrain I’ve seen on other old gravestones, including one along the Appalachian Trail in Vermont. It reads,
Remember me as you pass by
Reuben True, 1799
As you are now once was I
As I am now so you must be
Prepare for Death and follow me.
Next to him is a newer headstone In memory of Mrs Hannah True relict of Mr Reuben True who died Jan’4 th 1820 In the 78th year of her age. Her epitaph is a bit more optimistic:
Blest are the righteous ever blest
Hannah True, 1820
In mansions of immortal rest.
Blest is their memory it shall bloom
In fragrant beauty o’er the tomb.
Indeed, Halloween is coming soon!
I turned and drove onward up the road, until I encountered a delightful covered bridge, the Meriden Bridge. A sign noted it has been a favorite swimming hole for generations of children from Meriden and its Kimball Union Academy. I scrambled down the steep banks of the gorge beneath the bridge – a rather sketchy operation with such steep slopes and high water below – and found a spot where I could capture the cascades and the bridge, along with the remaining fall foliage. It was slippery and the current was strong, so I left my tripod in its case and hand-held my Canon R5 for 1/4 second exposures.
Not bad! Check out the gallery for more photos.
David Kotz 
In 1986 I lived on a communal farm near Meriden that had originally belonged to the True family. I had heard about the graveyard but never got to see it or the bridge and waterfall. (I found your post because I recently met someone in Minnesota named True and was googling around to see what farm he was raised on. Thanks for posting!)