05/28/2025
Board members Connie Merkel and Chris and Vernon Tarbox have completed the Potter's Field sign project. Thank you, ladies and gent, and also to Rick Bruns for his craftsmanship in making it!
For centuries, regions around the world have maintained common graves called potter’s fields, where they bury unidentified victims and impoverished citizens who couldn’t afford their own cemetery plots. The term potter’s field has been around for just as long.
The earliest known reference to a potter’s field is from the Gospel of Matthew, which historians believe was written sometime during the 1st century. In it, a remorseful Judas gives the 30 silver coins he was paid for betraying Jesus back to the high priests, who use it to purchase a “potter’s field” where they can bury foreigners. It’s been speculated that the priests chose land from a potter because it had already been stripped of clay and couldn’t be used for farming.
The term eventually caught on as English-language versions of the Bible made their way across the globe. Around the same time, a new definition of potter was gaining popularity that had nothing to do with pottery—in the 16th century, people began using the word as a synonym for tramp or vagrant. It’s likely that this sense of the word helped reinforce the idea that a potter’s field was intended for the graves of the unknown.
