Travel Directions:
From Gillette, follow WY-59 north 26.6 miles to the
“Rockypoint” sign (Heald Road).
Turn Right (E) onto Heald Road and go 1.9 miles to the
Rockypoint Road intersection.
Turn Left (N) on Rockypoint Road and follow it 25 miles
to the Rockypoint Cemetery. (Reference: 44d 54m 54s, 105d
5m 10s)
Remarks:
Annie Proulx never visited Rockypoint (or “Rocky
Point,” as it seems to be called much of the time),
but the small community cemetery here has captured the
imagination of many pilgrims as they make their way to
Lightning Flat. In use since the 1920s, it consists of
approximately 90 graves. Not all of them are marked. Old
maps show a church at this site.
Of special interest are several of the
tombstones which incorporate “lamb”
iconography, a symbolic tie between the labors and the
faith of those at rest here.
The setting is an open one. From here,
the horizon is essentially flat and empty in all
directions, making it quite easy to appreciate the
enduring phrase, “grieving plain.”
See:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/wy/campbell/cemetery/rckypnt.txt
Important:
Fill your automobile tank with gas at Gillette. Bring
water and a snack.
Quotation:
“Bumping down the washboard road Ennis passed the
country cemetery fenced with sagging sheep wire, a tiny
fenced square on the welling prairie, a few graves bright
with plastic flowers, and didn’t want to know Jack
was going in there, to be buried on the grieving
plain.” [1]
[1] Brokeback Mountain - Story
to Screenplay by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and
Diana Ossana (Scribner) ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9416-4, page
27.
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