Category Archives: Uncategorized

In the Goodwill Cemetery at Loogootee, Indiana, a red granite block marker displays an incised carving of an open gate, a common symbol found in American cemeteries.  The open gates, which are central to the Last Judgment, are opened to … Continue reading →

Coopers are those artisans who made barrels, wine casks, buckets, and firkins out of wooden staves that are held together with hoops.  The containers they made were of four distinct types: “Dry” or “slack” containers which were made to hold … Continue reading →

The Victorian Era lasted from about 1832 until Queen Victoria’s death in 1903.  The era was an eclectic period in the decorative arts with several styles—Gothic, Tudor, Neoclassical—vying for dominance.  The period was marked by ornamentation.  This was true in … Continue reading →

  The McGavock Family Cemetery lies on the Carnton Plantation.  The cemetery is the resting place for many McGavock family members including Randall McGavock who built the family home.  After the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, the McGavocks set aside two … Continue reading →

The Harold and Pauline Elgar monument in the Clear Creek Christian Church Cemetery at Bloomington, Indiana, features an example of a pieta.  Here The Virgin Mary tenderly holds the limp and dead body of Jesus Christ, clutching Him close, her … Continue reading →

The Pete and Annie Riley monument in the Calvary Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee, features a white marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary and the dead body of Jesus Christ. Works of art, usually sculptures, depicting this subject first began to … Continue reading →

In the Old Dutch Burying Ground of Sleepy Hollow in New York lies the grave of Solomon Brewer, Revolutionary War soldier.  The epitaph on his gravestone makes a reference to a passage found in the King James Bible, Psalm 90 … Continue reading →

The thistle is characterized by a purple or red flower that rests in a cup-shaped part of the stem and has prickly leaves and thorns that protect it from plant-eating animals.  The thistle is in the family Asteraceae. This flower, … Continue reading →

The metal markers placed beside the tombstones of volunteer and full-time firefighters vary in size and shape but usually display traditional iconography.  

Styles for grave markers to commemorate firefighters’ service are varied.  Some are designed with very little ornamentation looking like a plain badge while others display a myriad of different firefighters’ iconography. This marker honoring a volunteer firefighter from the Morganville … Continue reading →