Monthly Archives: December 2012

Victorian Angel

Posted on December 30, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The young female figure, head looking down in reflection and sorrow, while holding a flower in one hand and clutching her breast with the other is a common Victorian funerary symbol. This marker at the Mt. Calvary Cemetery at Columbus, Ohio, is … Continue reading →

Posted in Saving Graces | Leave a comment

Winged Cherub’s Head

Posted on December 29, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Several small cast-iron markers can be found in the St. Joseph Cemetery at Lafayette, Indiana.  These tiny headstones mark the graves of young children and are characterized by a cross and a winged cherub.  The cross, of course, is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Symbolism | 2 Comments

Tree-stump open book

Posted on December 27, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Tree stump tombstones, generally carved from limestone, were a part of the rustic movement of the mid-nineteenth century which was characterized by designs that were made to look like they were from the country. The gravestones are purposefully designed to … Continue reading →

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Commerce and Victory

Posted on December 23, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The second largest mausoleum in the Forest Home Cemetery at Forest Park, Illinois, was built for  life-long Chicago resident, William Grunow, (born April 30, 1893; died July 6, 1951) a partner in the Majestic Radio Company. The pathway to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Mausoleums, Symbolism | Leave a comment

Marshall Field

Posted on December 21, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

In a rags-to-riches story suitable for Horatio Alger, Marshall Field, who started as a clerk in a dry goods store, ended up buying the store in which he worked in 1865.  By the time Field died in 1906, he was … Continue reading →

Posted in Famous graves, Symbolism | 1 Comment

Crossing the narrow stream

Posted on December 17, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The epitaph on the Silas May gravestone in the Waterbury Cemetery in Waterbury, Vermont, uses the age-old metaphor of crossing the river.  Since ancient times, the imagery of the soul crossing a river was created to explain how the soul went from one … Continue reading →

Posted in Epitaphs | Leave a comment

Victorian Mourning Figure

Posted on December 16, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Many Victorian cemetery monuments are imbued with a multitude of symbolism.  In David Robinson’s book, Saving Graces, mourning figures from some of the most beautiful and famous cemeteries in Europe show sculpted beautiful, young, and voluptuous women often wearing revealing clothing mourning … Continue reading →

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Eclectic design in cast iron

Posted on December 13, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Cast iron became much less expensive in the second half of the 19th Century coupled with the ease of making more intricate patterns and designs.  Simple wrought iron adorning many of the homes, commercial buildings, and apartment buildings in New … Continue reading →

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Cast-iron Gothic

Posted on December 11, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The cast-iron Karstendiek Family Tomb in the Lafayette Cemetery Number 1 at New Orleans is a Gothic Revival style jewel box.  Built in the 1860s it features pointed-arched tracery on the doors and pinnacles on the roof.

Posted in Mausoleums, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Griffin

Posted on December 8, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

On the Pelton Tomb in the Greenwood Cemetery at New Orleans, Louisiana, the top of the crypt displays urns flanked by two griffins.  The griffin is a mythological beast that has the combined head and wings of the King of the … Continue reading →

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