Category Archives: Symbolism

Baby Shoes

Posted on August 25, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

There are many symbols that represent the young in funerary art—the broken bud, the lamb, and shoes.  A pair of shoes, reminiscent of the baby shoes that so many parents have bronzed, represents the loss of a child.  Sometimes one … Continue reading →

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Lily of the Valley

Posted on August 17, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

On the back of this bluish-gray marker in the Greenbush Cemetery at Lafayette, Indiana, a delicate hand holds a lily of the valley sprig. The lily of the valley is much like other lilies in funerary art as a symbol … Continue reading →

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Shock of Wheat

Posted on August 17, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Carved on top of this white marble monument for Herman and Elizabeth Aldrich in the Green-Wood Cemetery at Brooklyn, New York, is a great shock of wheat. Wheat’s origins are unknown but is the basis of basic food and a … Continue reading →

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The Inverted Torch

Posted on August 8, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The tombstones in these two photos are both taken in the Union Cemetery at St. Clairsville, Ohio.  In both cases, the tombstones display elaborately carved figures leaning on an inverted torch. In the example above, a chubby baby boy sits … Continue reading →

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The Severed Bud

Posted on August 3, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Cemeteries have many symbols that 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 … Continue reading →

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Coffin-shaped Table Top Tomb

Posted on August 2, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The coffin-shaped tombstone in the photograph is also a type of gravestone called a table tomb for an obvious reason—it looks like a table. Usually the table tomb has four or six legs supporting a stone tablet which carries the … Continue reading →

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Coffin-shaped Tombstone, Part 2

Posted on August 1, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Coffins come in many shapes and sizes, though, technically, a coffin is a six-sided container or box for burial.  A casket is generally understood to have four sides and be rectangular. The six-sided coffin tombstone found in the Groveport Cemetery … Continue reading →

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Coffin-shaped tomb

Posted on July 31, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

The coffin in cemetery symbolism represents death.  The reasons for that are fairly obvious.  Sometimes the image of the coffin is carved on the gravestone, other times the gravestone itself is carved to look like a coffin. This white marble coffin-shaped gravestone found … Continue reading →

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The Door

Posted on July 25, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

Some tombs in the Metarie Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, have a past, just as do their occupants!  The polished red granite Morales Family Tomb was originally built for a former madam in 1911.  The bronze statue of the woman at … Continue reading →

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Open Book

Posted on July 12, 2012 by gravelyspeaking

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.  … Continue reading →

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