Author Archives: gravelyspeaking

Sea Shells

Posted on June 2, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

The most poignant and tender gravestones are those for children.  When one wanders through pilgrim and pioneer cemeteries, you notice just how many children’s graves there are.  Infant mortality rates were extremely high.  In the 1850s, the mortality rates for … Continue reading →

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Morning Glories

Posted on June 1, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

Twining around mailboxes and fence rows, morning glories’ delicate tendrils gently cling, holding up their fragile flowers to open up to the summer sun.  Later at dusk their colorful flowers wither shut, a poet’s metaphor for life and death.  Because of it’s attention … Continue reading →

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Ode to Golf

Posted on May 15, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

Since modern golf was invented in Scotland centuries ago, men have been passionate about the game.  The monument above carved for Joe Kirkwood (1897-1970), with a bent golf club, serves as an admonition not to think too much about the … Continue reading →

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Feathers

Posted on May 15, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

Next to the Burlington International Airport lies the Eldridge Cemetery, a small graveyard tucked in between a busy street and the airport.  Halfway back and on the right-hand side of the cemetery is the grave of Ruth A. Stuart Kimball, … Continue reading →

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Angel Moroni

Posted on May 7, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

The wingless Angel Moroni is depicted in the gilded sculpture on top of the Mormon Temple. The temple was built next to the Pioneer Cemetery at Florence, Nebraska, the site of the Mormon Winter Encampment in 1846-47, after their exodus from Navoo, … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels | 1 Comment

Angels

Posted on May 5, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

When we see a winged figure in a cemetery, we instantly recognize it as an angel–a messenger of God.  However, Christian art did not depict angels with wings until the fourth century.  Before then, angels were represented in several different forms–sometimes … Continue reading →

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Wildlife

Posted on May 4, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

There are so many reasons that I love to wander around cemeteries–connection to history, architecture, beautiful sculptures, and so many stories.  And, occasionally I come around a corner and see a surprise like I did when I spotted this mother … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The Crusader

Posted on April 30, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

Only a master carver could sculpt this magnificent statue from stone as hard as this granite.  In fact, the celebrated Lorado Taft, one of the finest sculptors of his day, created this monument in 1931, for Victor Lawson (1850-1925).  Lawson … Continue reading →

Posted in Famous graves | Leave a comment

The Loyal Order of the Moose

Posted on April 27, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

The Loyal Order of Moose was founded in a doctor’s living room in Louisville, Kentucky, in the spring of 1888.  Dr. John Henry Wilson organized the order as a place for men to get together to socialize.  By the early … Continue reading →

Posted in Metal Markers | 6 Comments

There has to be more to the story

Posted on April 25, 2011 by gravelyspeaking

From time to time, you spot an epitaph that grabs your attention and you wish that you knew the rest of the story.  Nestled in the historic Old Tennent Presbyterian Church Cemetery, in Tennent, New Jersey lies the grave of … Continue reading →

Posted in Epitaphs | 2 Comments