Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky

The tombstone above is topped with an oxidized copper sculpture of an open book.  The open book is a fairly common symbol found on gravestones. The motif can represent the Book of Life with the names of the just registered on its pages.  This book, like any book in a cemetery, can also symbolize the Word of God in the form of the Bible.

This open book in particular is most likely representing a Bible.  This is the gravestone, shaped like a pulpit, for Methodist Episopal minister Albert Henry Redford.  The open book is open to the Bible verse, “But it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light“.  One can almost imagine Reverend Redford standing behind the lectern delivering the Sunday morning sermon.