Gravely Speaking

Etta Rebecca White Ratcliff

October 24, 1880

May 28, 1918

Etta Ratcliff is buried next to one of the broad avenues in the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Her gravestone features a carved angel—not unusual except the face of the angel is modeled after Etta herself. 

Etta was a mother of five and wife to William Emmet Ratcliff.  Ratcliff was a successful knitting factory owner.  Etta was a very young 37 years old when she died of a cerebral hemorrhage.  After her death, Ratcliff ordered a statue to be carved in her likeness. 

The statue, made of marble was carved in Italy.  During the shipment to America, the ship carrying the angel sank with Etta’s statue sinking with it.  Later it was recovered and placed where it now stands in the cemetery.

Maybe because of Etta’s angelic appearance and the resurrection of the statue itself from the bottom of the Atlantic, stories popped up with people claiming that as they walk past the angel, not only Etta’s eyes follow them, but some say her head moves following them.  Upon closer inspection of the statue, the neck has a crack, which some say is the reason the angel’s head can move about. There are claims that she has also been known to flutter her wings!

According to a WTVD broadcast, which aired Tuesday July 30, 2019, Oakwood Cemetery Executive Director Robin Simonton responded to the claims, “It’s … a little unsettling for us in a cemetery to see a statue that looks like a person.  It lends itself to urban legend.”

Urban legend or not, Etta’s angel watches over the passersby.

The Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina has a large section dedicated to Confederate soldiers who died in the war and those soldiers who served and survived and wished to buried there after the war.  The white marble gravestones are marked with birth and death dates of the fallen soldiers, with most of the dates from the war years to the late 19^th century.  However, there is a commemorative marker that was placed early this century, and it was for the last crew members on the CSS H.L. Hunley.

The CSS H. L. Hunley, named for its creator Horace Lawson Hunley, was an experimental warcraft, the first of its kind in naval history—a submarine that successfully sank another ship, the USS Housatonic, in combat.  The Hunley did not do this on its first try, however.  In fact, the Hunley, also nicknamed the “porpoise” and “the fish boat” sank twice before—on its maiden run August 29, 1863 killing its first crew of five members and later on October 15, 1863 killing all eight on board.  Hunley himself was drowned on that voyage.  The Hunley was raised both times and returned to battle.

The placard placed on the commemorative markers reads:

“On February 17^th, 1864 the CSS H.L Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in combat.  He sub was lost that night as well, when it sank just outside Charleston Harbour in SC. With all eight crewmembers perishing.  Crew Member James A Wicks was from North Carolina.  Whereas it played a small role in Civil War history it played a major role in American naval history.  The Confederate States of America submarine’s brave crew is listed below.  Buried beneath this marker are partial sedimentary remains of those brave naval men taken from the sub when it was raised from the floor of the ocean on August 8^th, 2000.

Lieutenant George E. Dixon, Commander

Arnold Becker

Corporal J. F. Carlsen

C. Lumpkin Miller

James A. Wicks

Joseph Ridgeway”

It is believed that when the crew fired its torpedo and hit the USS Housatonic, the impact of the explosion also sank the Hunley. The Hunley and its crew members were lost that night, until in 1995, the Hunley was found and raised for one last time. The Hunley is now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina.

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

FITZGERALD

SEPTEMBER 24, 1896

DECEMBER 21, 1940

HIS WIFE

ZELDA SAYRE

JULY 24, 1900

MARCH 10, 1948

“SO WE BEAT ON, BOATS AGAINST

THE CURRENT, BORNE BACK

CEASESSLY IN THE PAST.”

–The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda are buried in the Fitzgerald Family plot in St. Mary’s Churchyard Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland.  When F. Scott died in 1940, the church officials denied him the right as a lapsed Catholic to be buried in the churchyard, so he was buried in the Rockville Cemetery down the road. When Zelda died, F. Scott and Zelda were buried in the churchyard after the church officials had rethought their position.

The afternoon I was the there the sun was setting behind the gravestone, which was littered with votive candles, booze bottles—empty and full—trinkets, toys, journals, pens, and pencils.  And tucked in with the memorabilia strewn on top of the grave ledger, was a note, a moving tribute to F. Scott and Zelda:

“In high school.  He is no longer here plagued by loss and depression and leaving this earth at age 39.  I was 15 when I first read Gatsby, and it made me think and feel in similes and metaphors that I‘d never before considered.  My mentor…encouraged me to write and to study literature in college and I did. 

Tragedy struck me when I was 22, and I was unable to truly process or write for many years. I found it too difficult to feel.  But still, in the quiet moments I found myself reaching for the books and authors who made me, me.

I’m 32 now and some things have changed, and yet others have not.  Perhaps I’m not the author I’d dreamed of being, but I’ve endured.  I’d like to hope that one day, I’ll write the book I’ve been wanting to.  You were both writing at my age, and I am amazed by your words.

It is with love that I say that I’m so sorry that your lives didn’t treat you fondly at times and that you didn’t live as long as you should have.  The world is cruel at times, and it seemed to favor despair with you both.

Please know that your impact is perhaps bigger now than ever and that you have not been forgotten, you, and Ernest, and Gertrude, and all the rest. 

Words can last forever and stand the test of time, and I thank you profoundly for yours.

Love always,

…”

The note is a more moving memorial to the Fitzgeralds that a gravestone could ever be.

Most cemeteries, especially historic cemeteries that no longer have room for new burials, rely on volunteers for the upkeep. In the historic Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania, volunteers create gardens in cradle graves!

There are many superstitions that surround the supernatural and consequently burial practices, many of which have been long forgotten.

For instance, the doors to mausoleums are often imbued with symbolism.  In fact, the door itself represents a portal.  Portals come in many forms—a door, a gate, a window, even your eyes and your mouth are considered portals.  Many superstitions about death concern portals, many of which come from the Victorian Age.

The eyes, for instance, are considered the windows to the soul. Victorians believed the eyes were powerful, almost magical, even in death. When a person died therefore, the body had to be removed from the home feet first (most people died at home in the 19^th Century). In that way, the eyes of the deceased could not look back and lure a live person to follow the dead through the passageway to death.

The Victorians also believed that as you passed by a cemetery that you needed to hold your breath. The fear was that if one opened one’s mouth, that a spirit from the dead residing in the cemetery would enter your body through the portal—the open mouth.

Another superstition had to do with the mirrors in the home. After a death, the family very quickly covered the mirrors. It was believed that mirrors were false portals in a sense. The Victorians believed that the spirit of the dead could enter a mirror and become trapped in the mirror. If the spirit did so, it would not be able to complete its trip through the passageway from the Earthly realm to the Heavenly realm, or in some cases, to warmer climes.

The door as a motif in funerary art symbolizes mystery.  The door is the portal from the Earthly realm to the next. In Christianity, the door is usually viewed with hope, charity, and faith.  The next life in the hereafter will be better than the one experienced here on Earth.

Even the iron gates and fencing around the cemetery were imbued with a power—the power to keep the malevolent spirits such as ghosts, fairies, and witches at bay.  It was thought that iron had a supernatural power.  Hence a horseshoe nailed to a door was thought to be a talisman protecting those inside and repelling evil spirits.  Burying an iron knife in front of the threshold to your home was believed to ward off witches from coming in.  And the iron fencing around a cemetery was believed to contain the souls of the dead.  The magical powers of the gate and fencing are also found surrounding family plots.  It was thought that once the gate was closed the spirits could not follow you home!  Keep those gates closed!

THE TWELVE GATES WERE TWELVE PEARLS, REV. 21:21

“TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.” LUKE 23:43

FRANK HAMILTON, 1853 – 1947, RESTING

CARRIE HAMILTON, 1852 – 1908, RESTING

ELBERTINE R. HAMILTON, 1862 – 1958, DEVOTED DISCIPLE

Two monuments, one in the Rock Creek Cemetery at Washington D.C. and the other in Cave Hill Cemetery at Louisville, Kentucky, depict an opening or gateway with a rock rolled away from the opening.

The Hamilton Tomb has two Bible verses carved into the face of it that indicate that the opening of that monument is meant to portray Jesus’s entry into Heaven, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The second Bible verse, Revelation 21:21, goes on to describe the destination, “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”

The second monument, that of Zachariah Madison Sherley, a prominent riverboat fleet owner and pilot and his wife Susan Wallace Cromwell Sherley, also depicts a rock next to an entryway. This one, too, depicts the Resurrection of Jesus.

Many places in the Bible describe the Holy event, as does John 20:1 – 2, “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. 2. Then she runneth and cometh Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.”

SHERLEY

Z. M. SHERLEY, 1811 – 1879

SUSAN W. CROMWELL, HIS WIFE, 1831 – 1928

However, the Bork Family monument in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Tiffin, Ohio, depicts Jesus’s ascension to Heaven. Here Jesus leaves the Earthly realm for the Heavenly realm—this is the Resurrection of Christ.

In a mausoleum in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, the stained-glass window in the back of the tomb depicts an angel with red wings.  Angel’s are known as God’s messenger from the Hebrew root meaning send. 

This angel is thought to be a Seraphim.  Seraphim are one of nine orders or choirs of angels which are organized into three spheres or orders, with three choirs in each.  According to Christian tradition, the First Order, is made up of the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; the Middle or Second Order is made up of Dominions, Virtues, and Powers; and the Lowest or Third Order is made up of Principalities, Archangels and Angels. 

Seraphim are mentioned in Isaiah 6:2-3 (King James Version):  2) “Above it stood the Seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”  3) “And on cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of His glory.”

According to tradition, the Seraphim have red wings because they are the closet to God.

JUDSON

CLAY 1892 – 1960   SYLVIA SHAW 1897 – 1976

Alongside one of the avenues in the historic Graceland Cemetery in Chicago is a plain and unadorned polished granite block marking the grave of Sylvia Shaw Judson.  There is nothing about the stone that gives a hint to the artistic talent of the woman buried beneath or the fact that she created one of the most famous sculptures marking a family plot in the famed Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.

The photo on the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt made the statue, Bird Girl, by Sylvia Shaw Judson a sensation.  So much so that readers of the book flocked to the Bonaventure Cemetery to see it, which caused the family to move the sculpture marking their family plot to the Telfair Museum.  Bird Girl now has her own room in the museum.

The image is intriguing.  The statue is plain.  The girl is expressionless as she stands there, with her head titled slightly. There she stands with her arms out holding a bowl in each hand like scales—weighing, I thought—good and evil. —not knowing whether it is a nod to the virtuous or the villainous.  But it turns out the sculptor intended the statue to adorn a garden—not a cemetery.  The two bowls were to have water in one and bird feed in the other.  Bird Girl is Shaw Judson’s most famous sculpture, but her works can be found in many places including botanical gardens, libraries, museums, schools, and churches.

Ironic that her sculpture Bird Girl should have received such fame as a grave marker while her own stone is plain and devoid of her talent as a sculptor.

Tucked in the back of a mausoleum in the Forest Hills Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a stained-glass window that depicts Christ carrying the Cross along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem on His way to Crucifixion.

This dramatic portrayal shows Christ bent and crawling up steps with the Cross on his back.  He is surrounded by two Roman soldiers with spears and clubs drawn. At the top of the steps Simon of Cyrene appears to be getting read to help Christ carry the heavy burden.

King James Version, Luke 23: 27 “And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the Cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.”

In this depiction, Christ carries the entire Cross.  However, many modern Biblical scholars believe that Christ carried only a patibulum or crossbar which was affixed to a pole or stipe that was already driven into the ground at Golgotha, also known as Calvary or the Hill upon which Christ was crucified.

TO THE MEMORY OF

BELLE ACHER

BORN IN EASTERN PA SEPT 5. 1858

DIED IN WARREN PA SEPT 19.1900

BY HER BRILLIANT ACCOMPLISHMENT

AND RARE-GRACES OF MIND AND PERSON

SHE GAVE DISTINCTION

TO THE HISTORIC ARTS.

TO THE NAME OF BELLE ARCHER

THE MASTER LEANING REACHED A HAND AND

WHISPERED IT IS FINISHED

W. CLARKE NOBLE SCULPTOR

In the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania, is a large 6-foot-tall granite monolith with a bronze insert with an inscription to and a bas-relief sculpture of actress Belle Archer.  Belle Archer started her acting career under the name of Belle Mackenzie on the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. stages.  Her first role was in the play “The Mighty Dollar.”  In 1880, Belle married fellow actor, Herbert Marshall Archer, and changed her name.  They soon began to play opposite of each other in a play titled, “The Highest Bidder”. Though her marriage failed in 1889, Belle’s career took off and for the next ten years she appeared in stage productions of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “Hazel Kirke,” “The Foresters”, “The Three Musketeers”, and “Lord Chumley” among others.

On September 16^th, 1900, Belle Archer took a bad fall on the train station platform in Jamestown, New York.  Though it was thought she was recovering, she died the following Wednesday, September 19^th.  Her funeral was held in the Episcopal Church in Easton.  She was buried in the Easton Cemetery.

The monument marking her grave includes a bronze plaque sculped by Maine-born artist William Clarke Noble (February 10, 1858 – May 10, 1938).  The medallion portrait is said to be a reproduction of her favorite.  Her beauty is best described by The Easton Daily Express, September 21, 1900, that noted “her beautiful face and form and the grace and ease of her carriage captivated her audiences wherever she appeared.”  The portrait, sculpted by Noble, captured her notable beauty. 

Noble’s many works can be found at the Gettysburg Battlefield, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Newport, Rhode Island,; Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia; New York City; Doane Park, Newark, New Jersey; the Maine Statehouse; as well as many other places throughout the country.