Smith

Thompson

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

Poughkeepsie

NY

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
Chief Justice of the United States
August 31, 1823
-
December 17, 1843
Appointed by
James
Monroe
Chief Justice of the United States
-
Appointed by

×

Seat
10
1
prior justice: 
next justice: 
Visited
March 15, 2020

Notes

After recovering from cancer surgery in late 2019, I started the work of trying to build a freelance graphic design business. Which is when the covid pandemic started. My work was drying up and we as a global community were facing an impending lockdown.

So I got in my car and went on a cemetery tour of upstate New York.

Poughkeepsie was the last stop on my trip and I was worried about losing the sun. Which was a well-founded fear, as Thompson's grave was nearly impossible to find. He is buried in a part of the cemetery that doesn't conform to the same naming convention as the rest. It wasn't immediately clear where this was located. To make matters worse, the stone itself is weathered beyond legibility.

So I was scouring the length and breadth of the place, looking for a stone I couldn't read, all while the sun was going down in a big-ass hurry.

Eventually of course I found it and was able to get some good pictures. But this last stop on my journey was quite a stressful one. And if I'd made better time, I could have gotten some shots of the grave of Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground, which woulda been cool.

After this stop, I made the long trip home - seven plus hours of driving. Got home very late and very sleepy.

Inscription

photo courtesy of Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery

Still trying to find a record of the inscription (which is now illegible), but since my visit, a plaque has been placed at the foot of his stone.

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