Mourner's Vale

The ancient, twisted oak forests part to reveal a verdant valley. The ground slopes down in tiers of garden patches bursting with squash, pumpkins, wheat, and corn. The golden waves of wheat break at the foot of a massive mound. At first glance, it appears to be a colossal graveyard with ring upon timeworn, clustered ring of tombs, headstones, memorials, and cairns. Yet there are people moving through the rows, trading at stalls, and bringing in crops from the fields. Smoke rises from the tops of what seem to be mausoleums, yet they are used as homes and shops. This is Mourner's Vale, the town built within a necropolis.

“View from Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn,” 1881 by Rudolph Cronau

Type

Town