Finnerty and Stevens Funeral Home

But they still exist — and Berkshire County is speckled with them.Such areas of unidentified interment are predominantly located within or adjacent to town cemeteries. They're called "potter's fields," a reference dating back to the New Testament. Matthew 27:10 describes a guilt-stricken Judas paying 30 silver pieces to bury his former friend, Jesus, in the cheapest place available — a field of clay dirt used by potters and thus chemically unfit for profitable horticulture.But this burial tradition, popular in the U.S. from the 1850s through the 1960s, does not come to us from Biblical times. Potter's fields emerged in the U.S. after the Colonial era, and were used by towns to bury indigent bodies — the impoverished, unclaimed and unidentified. During this period, those lacking the family or funds to cover burial costs were interred by townsfolk, but often without a headstone. Stockbridge Cemetery demonstrates Colonial, Victorian and modern burial practices."It sounds like potter's fields are a mid-19th century kind of happening. The oldest part of the cemetery was probably used a little before 1750, and they didn't have a potter's field," said former Stockbridge Police Chief Rick Wilcox, who serves as the town's unofficial local historian. "What they did is bury everybody together. There are Native Americans, there are free blacks, and in town records it shows that some people were Irish, but it doesn't show their names. In this whole section, there are 121 unmarked graves. Essentially, there was no potter's field because everyone got taken care of."This was the burial practice known to our Colonial forebears. Every body was buried together, whether marked or not. The old cemetery ran out of room by 1848, and plans for expanded grounds were drawn. This time, the town set aside a plot marked "Potter's Field" adjacent to the old section. This space, as well as a second potter's field added later, were used until the 1960s when they filled up.To find the original potter's field in Stockbridge, enter the cemetery through ... (Berkshire Eagle (subscription))

Christianson, 69, died from massive head trauma after falling down the back stairs of his home. His wife, Tamar Gordon, said the banister had given way.Gordon described her husband as a man who combined a voracious curiosity with a deep sense of social justice — and a keen nose for a great story.Christianson had recently begun working for the investigative unit of the McClatchy news service. Just two weeks ago, he and his McClatchy colleague Greg Gordon published a comprehensive investigation on the ties between President Donald Trump and the hedge-fund mogul Robert Mercer.Gordon laughed as she recalled hearing him lustily discuss his next story over the speakerphone only last week. Photo: JIM MCKNIGHT, AP Image 1of/4CaptionCloseImage 1 of 4Writer Scott Christianson poses Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2000, in the Time and Space Limited gallery in Hudson, N.Y., with two photos from his documentary photo exhibit that accompanies his book 'Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House'. At the left is Maurice O'Dell in a Buffalo Police headshot from Feb. 8, 1953. O'Dell was executed in Sing Sing on Jan. 7, 1954. The right photo is the Sing Sing electric chair circa 1940s. (Associated Press0 lessWriter Scott Christianson poses Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2000, in the Time and Space Limited gallery in Hudson, N.Y., with two photos from his documentary photo exhibit that accompanies his book 'Condemned: Inside ... more Photo: JIM MCKNIGHT, AP Image 2 of 4Scott Christianson, author of "Freeing Charles" talks about the book at the Rensselaer County Historical Society in Troy, NY on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010. Artwork on the walls is by painter Mark Priest who depicts the scenes of freeing of the fugitive slave Charles Nalle. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) lessScott Christianson, author of "Freeing Charles" talks about the book at the Rensselaer County Historical Society in Troy, NY on W... (Albany Times Union)