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  Have you ever had a cherished personal theory you are hesitant to give up? One which is difficult to substantiate, but you're just sure is right? I am still clinging to mine, though it now lives in tatters with little hope of resurrection. It involves the grave of sculptor Daniel Chester French in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (photo at right). Atop the ridge opposite the Concord authors -- Emerson, Thoreau and the Alcotts -- is his stately marker. French sculpted the Minuteman Statue at the Old North Bridge, Mourning Victory/Melvin Memorial -- also in Sleepy Hollow -- and other well-known publicly-displayed works. Frequent visitors to Sleepy Hollow will notice that people leave little offerings beside the headstones of the famed. I've noticed small rocks, leaves, pinecones, flowers and other natural materials often left with the Transcendentalists. On French's grave, however, I usually see pennies. An occasional nickel, dime or quarter, but usually lots of United States Lincoln pennies. The day I formed my beloved theory, there were nearly two dozen of them on top his marker, two-thirds of which were tails up. Those of you who realize that the obverse of the US penny has the image of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC -- complete with French's enormous Lincoln sculpture -- may see where I am going with this. My theory is as follows:
Visitors to French's grave are making a clever and elegant statement with their coins. They leave the Lincoln penny with the monument-side up because they realize his connection to this most famous of his works. 
 "Hogwash!", said the combined voice of at least half-dozen members of the Concord Discussion List. Money left at graveside goes back to the coins left with the dead in ancient Greece to pay Charon, ferryman over the River Styx -- the price of transport to the Underworld. And then there's the Jewish tradition of putting a small rock on the gravestone to mark one's visit. Leaving a small remembrance is common in many cultures. I was reading far too much into these pennies.These clear and specific objections, of course, only made me more certain that my theory was correct. I emailed Mount Vernon, home of George Washington, sharing with them my magnificent theory and seeking confirmation of the phenomenon. Did people leave lots of quarters on Washington's grave? Funny, but now that I think of it, I never did receive an reply back from them. On a grey January day this past winter, I was describing my pet theory to Tom Clark -- he of Frank Sanborn fascination (see excerpts from his The Significance of Being Frank: The Life and Times of Franklin Benjamin Sanborn here, here, and also here). We were walking to the Colonial Inn for lunch. "What a marvelous theory!" he said, nodding his head vigorously. "Just wonderful. I believe it completely."
In March at the Honored Citizen reception at the Town House, I ran into Tish Hopkins, supervisor of the cemetery division of Concord Public Works. Sure of my theory after having personally received confirmation of it from the Great Mystery Itself, I approached. "Hey, Tish! I have a theory I want to share with you...." I told her all, sparing the poor woman nothing. "So, does your staff tend to find coins on other graves besides French's? Or is there something special about the number and type of coins left at his marker?" I ventured. "Oh, yes, we find coins all over the cemetery -- mostly pennies," Tish said, instantly deflating my lovely theory. "Face up, face down...seems random. And it's funny: we never used to find them until just a few years ago. And then all of the sudden, coins everywhere." Not to be without a theory for even a moment, I immediately generated a new one: that the sudden appearance of coins on the graves coincided with the dotcom boom of the late 1990's, and all the wealth that went along with that. She nodded thoughtfully that that was possible, and soon wandered off to sample the sandwiches.
In fact, I believe this is how many a deeply cherished, totally unconfirmed, questionably "true" Concord story became accepted: the tale SOUNDED like a good one, so it might as well be so. Pass it along a few times and before you know it: poof! A new "fact" is born. Who needs supporting evidence? Just keep it moving... So, dear readers, your help please: we want to establish a new Concord "fact". Have you ever left something at a grave in Sleepy Hollow? What was it? Why did you choose it, and what was it supposed to mean? Please email me your thoughts. Don't worry about disappointing me: whatever you say, my theory will still stand!
 
 
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At that moment we were just crossing Lowell Road to the Inn. Tom suddenly stopped in the crosswalk. Stooping down, he picked up a penny, much abused by road wear -- the very one you see at right and on the left margin of this page. "That seals it," he said. "Finding a penny at this moment confirms that this theory is definitely true." The order of the Universe having been revealed to us at the propitious time, we went to our noontime meal well satisfied.
