Category Archives: Symbolism

  The Joseph and Julia Plick gravestone in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at Sleepy Hollow, New York, has an incised carving of a cowboy slumped over on his horse.  The marker is a take off on the sculpture, The End of the Trail, … Continue reading →

The graves of veterans can be found in cemeteries all across America.  In some cases the graves do not in any way denote military service.  In others the graves are marked with a metal marker next to the gravestone that denotes the war in … Continue reading →

  The patridge is the homely and smaller cousin of the pheasant.  According to Greek mythology, the partridge was born out of the rage and jealousy of Deadalus.  Deadalus was an accomplished and skilled craftsman.  But his clever nephew, Perdix, … Continue reading →

Many funerary motifs represent children–shoes, seedpods, cribs, cherubs–but one of the most common is the hanging bud. The broken bud represents the flower that did not bloom into full blossom, the life that was cut short before it had a … Continue reading →

The lily of the valley is much like other lilies in funerary art and viewed as a symbol of innocence and purity.  Because of the lily of the valley’s symbolic meanings of innocence and purity it is likely the reason the motif adorns the grave of six-year … Continue reading →

The gravestone of Magdalen Blakely at the Clear Creek Christian Church Cemetery at Bloomington, Indiana, displays one of the most common motifs found in American cemeteries—clasping hands.  The clasping hands on this gravestone represent holy matrimony, symbolizing the holy union … Continue reading →

The Richard Perry Morrison Monument in the Forest Lawn Cemetery at Buffalo, New York, above is decorated with grape clusters and leaves.  In Christianity the Eucharist, which is part of a religious ceremony also called Holy Communion, is a time when Christ’s followers … Continue reading →

One of my favorite graveyard symbols is the willow.  Maybe because it is a little sentimental and hints at the human emotions felt during grief.  The willow motif represents what one might expect; sorrow and grief, it is after all a … Continue reading →

A pair of shoes often memorializes the grave of a child.  In this case, the pair of shoes marks the grave of a one and a half-year girl named Eleanor buried in the Oakland Cemetery at Atlanta, Georgia.  The headstone forms … Continue reading →