Garland Brooks Cemetery, Columbus, Indiana
The gravestone pictured above displays an open gate carved from limestone. In this example, the open gates, which are central to the Last Judgment, are opened to a starred sky with a banner above that reads “AT REST”. The gates represent a passageway, the gates are the portal for saved souls to make their passage from the Earthly realm to Heaven upon Christ’s return.
Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, New Jersey
The Patriotic Sons of America (P.O.S. Of A.)
In 1847, Dr. Reynell Coates founded the Patriotic Sons of America as an organization to promote the ideals upon which America was created and to pay honor and duty to the flag. Some of the main aims of P.O.S. Of S. were to:
build appreciation for American heritage and history
devotion to the United States Consitution and the American flag
defend the American public School system
support a strong national defense
lobby to restrict immigration
cultivate harmony, fellowship, and friendship among its members
Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky
He has gone to his Heavenly home
His favoraite Dog still watching his tomb.
Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky
Some of my favorite memories as a child were spent with the dogs that we had while I was growing up. We had many dogs—Happy, Pal, Sandy, Fritzy, and Pokie—all members of our family. They each had distinct personalities.
Happy got his name because he, was well, happy. Pal followed us everywhere, including to school. Sometimes I would look out and Pal would be staring in the school window waiting for the bell to ring so he could walk home with me. Sandy was an odd dog that liked lettuce and even jelly sandwiches. Fritzy was a cranky toy Manchester that became very feeble but never lost his appetite to nip at strangers and family members he didn’t like! Pokie was a social blonde cocker spaniel with a bad case of asthma. He had his little home on our back porch that he shared with our black cat—Bad Luck. When she had kitties they all slept together in a box and Pokie carried the kitties around like they were his.
Fairmont Cemetery, Denver, Colorado
All of them had the qualities we think of good dogs having—loyalty, fidelity, and vigilance.
This dog looks as if he is mourning the loss of his best friend.
Metarie Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Pierre L'Fant Table Tomb, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER 1775-1763
PIERRE CHARLES L’FANT
ENGINEER ARTIST SOLDIER
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
DESIGNED THE PLAN FOR THE FEDERAL CITY
MAJOR US ENGINEER CORPS 1782
CHARTER MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI
DESINGED ITS CERTIFICATE & INSIGNIA
BORN IN PARIS FRANCE AUGUST 2, 1755
DIED JUNE 14, 1825 WHILE RESIDING AT CHILHAM CASTLE MANOR
PRINCE GEORGE’S CO. MARYLAND AND WAS INTERRED THERE
REINTERRED AT ARLINGTON APRIL 28, 1909
When you walk out onto the veranda of what was Robert E. Lee’s home, now in the center of Arlington Cemetey, you overlook the United States Capital City and the tomb of Pierre L’Fant, who designed the plan for the city.
The name of the type of gravestone that marks L’Fant’s grave is called a table tomb for an obvious reason—it looks like a table. Usually the table tomb is six legged supporting a stone tablet which carries the inscription of the deceased. In this case, the six legs are supported by an elaborate base that also has a sword carved into the top representing L’Fant’s service in the Revolutionary War.
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Augustus Thompson's gravestone, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
The anvil gravestone pictured above is in what is historically been called the Black Section of the Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia. The monument commemorates the grave of Augustus Thompson (1837-1910) a prominent citizen of the city. Thompson moved from Mississippi, out of slavery, to settle in Atlanta to work as a blacksmith, hence, the anvil atop of the gravestone.
This gravestone displays four symbols:
Anvil: The anvil is a symbol of universe being forged and can also represent martydom.
The Crown above the mansions in the sky: From the Bible verse John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” (This symbol is quite faint on the tombstone and difficult to see.)
Three links of chain: A symbol of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. (Thompson organized teh St. James Lodge of African-American Odd Fellows in Atlanta.)
Open Gates: Represents the passage from the Earthly Realm to the Heavenly Realm.
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
John Robert Marsh, born Maysville, Ky, Oct. 6, 1896, Died Atlanta, Ga., May 5, 1952
Margaret Mitchell’s grave lies within the walls of Oakland Cemetery, a fitting place for her bones to rest, as she was a daughter of Atlanta, born and bred and died in that city. Margaret Mitchell Marsh’s monument is one of the most visited in the cemetery. Signs point the way for the gawkers who amble by to catch a glimpse of the white marble monument with a large urn centered to divide the monument into equal halves. She shares the tombstone with her second husband, John Robert Marsh, who was also the best man at her short-lived first marriage to an alcoholic, abusive, and hot-tempered man.
Margaret Mitchell's Monument, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Mitchell was a celebrated author. She wrote the epic novel, Gone with the Wind, which was a love song for her beloved South. Pat Conroy, the author of The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and My Reading Life wrote, “Margaret Mitchell writes of the Confederacy as paradise, as the ruined garden looked back upon by a stricken and exiled Eve, disconsolate with loss.” Mitchell’s book won the National Book Award in 1936 and the Pulitzer in 1937 for her novel which was turned into a movie and premiered in Atlanta in 1939, starring Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable. Mitchell was the toast of Atlanta and the South.
When she was less than fifty years old, on the evening of August 11, 1949, Margaret and her husband, John, were crossing the street to see a movie when a drunk driver struck her as she stepped into the street. Mitchell was rushed to the hospital but never regained consciousness and died in the city she loved five days later.
Jasper Newton Smith Mausoleum, Oakland Cemetery, Georgia
Perched over the steel-gated doorway of a rough-hewn stone mausoleum, sits “Jack” Jasper Newton Smith. Smith, the son of William and Elizabeth Brady Smith, was born on a farm to a large family of ten boys and two girls in Walton County, Georgia, on December 29th, 1833. Jack married Rebecca Hawke in 1856—this union bore the couple six children. When the Civil War began, he joined the Tenth Georgia Cavalry but was forced to resign before the end of the War due to illness.
Jasper Newton Smith, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
Smith, an eccentric and successful businessman, tried his hand at many pursuits including farming, brick manufacturing, and as proprietor of The Bachelors’ Domain, a forty-four room hotel, each room named after the states of the Union. He also built an unique structure that was pieced together from remnants of other buildings that became known as the “House that Jack Built.”
In 1906, at age 73, Smith, sitting upright in a upolstered chair holding a silk hat, posed for sculptor C.C. Crouch for the statue for his own mausoleum. As the story goes, Crouch sculpted Smith wearing a tie with his suit coat. Smith didn’t object to the thinning hair or the waddle under his chin, but he so hated wearing neck ties and ascots that he told Crouch that if the necktie wasn’t chisled out of the scupture, Smith would not pay him. Keeping with that theme Smith didn’t want any vines twinning up his sculpture for fear that the vine might look like neckwear!
Jasper Newton Smith, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
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