Oh wow, I've never seen one like this before

Rough homemade stones from the late 1600s/early 1700s are not uncommon where I am.

That's pretty cool! I'm originally from Michigan; there weren't any in my local cemeteries. I haven't ventured to any of the Kentucky ones where I live now however.

Do you think they could be slave graves? We have them in some of our older cemeteries in southeastern Connecticut. But, they're usually unmarked.

I know what you mean. I've seen cemeteries in New London, CT and Newport, RI that have their own sections devoted to their slaves/freedmen.
I don't think stones like this are in that category, tho. I think it's just a product of having very little money. Outside of Boston, a lot of the residents of "early" towns did this. Even towns that became large and wealthy (Lancaster, MA/Bridgeport, CT) have stones like this in their yards from this time period.

I'll have to stop by a Bridgeport cemetery then. If you're ever looking for more cemeteries to look at, I know of a couple older ones in Colchester CT. I can send ya deets via. PM if you're interested. I also have a photo of what I can call the most interesting stone I've seen yet from one of the Colchester yards.

Thank u. :3

The one in Bridgeport is called the Old Stratfield Cemetery, and it's on *googles it* Briarwood Ave.

How were you able to read this? Did you do a rubbing?

I picked out the "Smedly" myself. The rest, I got from looking up the cemetery on findagrave.com. Evidently the name and date were confirmed in the burial records and someone was able to transcribe the info.

Well done. But why is this so crude? With no knowledge of stone carving I could certainly have done better. This is very intriguing.

Whoa! Unreal! I can barely make it out!