Gravely Speaking

Here lies buried

The Body of Mr BENJAMIN PARKER Mercht

Who Departed this Life

The 14^th day of November

1769

Aged 54 Years

Here again on this gray slate gravestone in the Granary Burying Ground at Boston is an example of the skull and crossbones symbol broadcasting the message to “remember death”.  This gravestone, however, is a bridge between the memento mori symbolism meant to remind that life was short.

Here, just on the edges of the gravestone were the beginnings of a softer message.  Two small winged cherub faces are carved on the marker.  These images are called “soul effigies”.  They mark the transition away from harsh Puritan theology to the gentler Age of Enlightenment that gave way to the sentimentality of the Victorian Era.

These figures represent the flight of the soul away from the body, presumably to Heaven.  Instead of the symbolism of skulls, bones, grave-digging equipment and the like, the soul effigies speak to a message of optimism and the glory of the soul and the hereafter.

Alexander Mackay Junior’s gray slate gravestone in the Granary Burying Ground at Boston displays a skull with the lower jaw missing, teeth nearly chewing on crossed bones. This symbol, like many found in cemeteries in the 17^th and 18^th Century are meant to remind passersby that life is short and that all will die.  These grim images are called Memento Mori symbols.  Memento Mori is Latin which translates to “remember death“. 

Mt. Auburn, Cambridge, Massachusetts

For this mortal must put on immortality.

To the Memory

Of

DAVID PATTERSON,

MERCHANT

Who died at sea, October 31, 1834,

aged 27 years.

ERECTED

By his commercial friends and associates

As a memorial of their

Affection

And respect for his elevated, moral and religious

Character.

He sleeps beneath the blue lone sea,

He lies where pearls lie deep

He was the loved of all, yet none

O’er his low bed may weep.

Like many symbols found in gravestone art, the butterfly has more than one meaning.  The butterfly emerging out of the chrysalis represents the flight of the soul from the body.  The metamorphosis of the butterfly, the change from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, also represents the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Union Cemetery, Uhrichsville, Ohio

This intricately carved gray marble caboose, track, and wheel displaying the letters: B of RRT can be found in the Union Cemetery at Uhrichsville, Ohio.  The tale told by the cemetery maintenance crew about the marker is that the man buried under the railroad car was killed by a wheel that came off the train, which is supposedly displayed in front of the car.  Besides being a cruel joke to show the weapon of one’s demise at one’s graveside, the story is not true.  The gravestone does not actually mark the grave of a person, but is a commemorative marker for the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.

Like many organizations and fraternal groups founded in the mid to late 19^th Century, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, founded in 1883 in Oneonta, N.Y., was organized to, in part, provide insurance for its membership.  The BRT, B of RT or the BRRT, was founded to represent railroad labor’s interests in a negotiated contract with railroad management.  The union included conductors, stewards, ticket collectors, brakemen, switchmen, car tenders, car operators, yardmasters, baggage men, flagmen, and various other workmen laboring in the railroad business in non-management positions.

Note: I first saw the gravestone above on the Website: www.graveaddiction.com.  Beth Santore, the Webmaster, has photographed hundreds of cemeteries in Ohio, as well as, making photo forays into neighboring states.  I highly recommend her Website, especially for those tramping around Ohio graveyards!

The winged death’s head was a grim reminder that life was short, not that one need’s that reminder as they stroll through a cemetery.

Slowly the imagery began to change.  Though it is not as stark as the skull, it is still spooky.  This haunting visage was somewhere between the skull and the chubby winged cherub’s that came next.

The image of a cherub’s face with curled wings circling upward became a popular symbol in the 18^th Century.  The winged cherubs replaced the stark and morbid flying death’s heads from our Puritan forefathers.  The cherubs have a childlike countenance of innocence.  The iconography represents the flight of the soul from the body upward to Heaven and the hope of the resurrection.

Oakland Cemetery, Sandusky, Ohio

The cast-iron gravestone in the Oakland Cemetery at Sandusky, Ohio, 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 are to do as Jesus instructed at the Last Supper.  Jesus broke bread and said, “This is my body” and drank wine and said, “This is my blood”.  The grape in cemetery symbolism represents the blood of Christ.

Greenbush Cemetery, Lafayette, Indiana

An oil lamp is carved into the top of Peter Leslie’s white-marble tablet gravestone. A flickering flame can be seen coming from the lamp, providing light.

The Bible verse, II Samuel: Chapter 22, verse 29, says, “For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.”

The light emanating from the lamp represents the pathway to Truth and to Knowledge.