The Healing Journey

March 26, 2025

An empty chair has long been a symbol for a lost loved one, but one in particular has led to legends at the Mayflower Hill Cemetery in Taunton, Massachusetts. While there are variations of the story. One version says that a little girl died when she fell backward in the chair or died in a fire, sitting in the chair she had been commanded not to leave. The truth, however, from several sources, is that the chair marks the grave of 4-year-old Pearl French, who died on March 26, 1882, of spinal meningitis.

And why a grave with an empty rocking chair? It was probably inspired by a poem titled “The Vacant Chair” by Richard Coe Jr., published in 1850 in the magazine “Godey’s Lady’s Book. On Pearl’s grave are the words, “Her Vacant Chair.”

The Vacant Chair

By Richard Coe Jr.
When we gather round our hearth,
Consecrated by the birth
Of our eldest, darling boy,
Only one thing mars our joy:
‘Tis the dreary corner, where
Stands, unfilled, the vacant chair!

Little Mary, bright and blest,
Early sought her heavenly rest.
Oft we see her in our dreams
Then an angel one she seems!
But we oftener see her, where
Stands, unfilled, the vacant chair.

But ’twere sinful to repine;
Much of joy to me and mine
Has the gentle Shepherd given.
Little Mary is in heaven!
Blessed thought! while gazing where
Stands, unfilled, the vacant chair.

Many parents, kind and good,
Lost to them their little brood,
Bless their Maker night and day,
Though he took their all away!
Shall we, therefore, murmur, where
Stands, unfilled, one vacant chair!

Little Mary! angel blest
From thy blissful place of rest,
Look upon us! angel child,
Fill us with thy spirit mild.
Keep o’er us thy watchful care;
Often fill the vacant chair.

***