Some time ago I ran across a story that interested me a great deal. After reading about it I knew that I wanted to visit the site for myself and see it with my own two eyes. On Sunday Mary and I drove to Almont, about 25 miles west of Mandan. The story went like this: a poor African-American family passed through Almont in 1926. Their infant son Jonathan took ill and died, and his parents buried him in the local cemetery. The parents were too poor to pay for a headstone, but they left on the grave their most prized possession, a china cup and saucer. Needless to say, items of this nature, being fragile, are subject to damage from our harsh weather conditions, maybe even vandalism. A resident of the town assumed the responsibility of replacing the cup and saucer whenever needed. She has since passed on, however, but people from the town carry on the task of caring for the site.
A small metal headstone now marks the grave inscribed with the infant's name and year of death, a project probably undertaken by a sympathetic person or group. But no doubt about it, the cup and saucer rest prominently in front of the marker. Probably not many people from outside the community of Almont know of this story; I'm glad I read a small article that called attention to it so we could visit the scene and pay our respects.
Almont is a small town, and as I suspected when we drove in we would not find anyone to direct us to the cemetery. A few months ago as a young restaurant waitress took our order whom I asked where she was from. With Almont her answer I asked if she knew about the cup and saucer, which she did. I thought I remembered her saying it was a couple miles east of town, and sure enough, we found it.
A small metal headstone now marks the grave inscribed with the infant's name and year of death, a project probably undertaken by a sympathetic person or group. But no doubt about it, the cup and saucer rest prominently in front of the marker. Probably not many people from outside the community of Almont know of this story; I'm glad I read a small article that called attention to it so we could visit the scene and pay our respects. 
Almont is a small town, and as I suspected when we drove in we would not find anyone to direct us to the cemetery. A few months ago as a young restaurant waitress took our order whom I asked where she was from. With Almont her answer I asked if she knew about the cup and saucer, which she did. I thought I remembered her saying it was a couple miles east of town, and sure enough, we found it.
