A Grave Concern: Haas Wordless Wednesday

Dedicated to the memoy of Rev. Christian G. Haas
1862-1928
For twenty-five years beloved pastor of St. Paul’s Evangelical church
1903-1928
Serving faithfully and well the congregation who erected this memorial.

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A Grave Cooncern: Florist

I’ve visited a small fraction of the cemeteries even in my state, but I’ve read a number of books and blogs, and I follow some other cemetery photographers’ postings, and this is the first time I have seen the occupation of florist immortalized on a graveyard monument.

William Scott
1844-1908
Erected by the Florists of America in grateful recognition of his eminent services to floriculture

It appears Mr. Scott wrote a book called The Florists’ Manual. I may at some point be able to find more information about him, but that’s what I know for now.

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A Grave Concern: Inverted torch

The inverted torches on this monument are so subtle that I had looked at the photo about a dozen times before I saw them and realized why I probably initially took the photo. I take a lot of photos at once and then sort through them later, so I sometimes miss what initially caught my eye.

The inverted torch signifies death, but the still burning flame represents eternal life.

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A Grave Concern: More Egyptian Revival

I just posted the other day about Egyptian revival funerary art, but I was glancing through my selection of photos from Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York, and found some more photos I wanted to share of the style.

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A Grave Concern: Mausoleum doors

Mausoleum doors can be simple, but they can also be fascinating.

When we visited Forest Lawn Cemetery, my friend said she was going to make a bracelet based on the design on the Cowan doors.

The Stachura mausoleum has a mourning figure worked into the doorway.

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A Grave Concern: Broken

An unopened or partially opened bud with a broken stem is a frequent symbol on the graves of young people – not just children, but young adults. It symbolizes the unrealized possibilities from death at a young age.

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A Grave Concern: Today I am thankful…

I’ve shown you this stone before but I’m showing it to you for a different reason. This man, like my grandfather, worked for the railroad (unlike my grandfather, this man died on the railroad). My grandfather doesn’t have anything about his employer, the Pennsylvania Railroad, on his stone. I am grateful that my grandfather, despitte his teh fact that the was able to work with only a 5th grade education, encouraged me to continue mine. He wanted me to go to college, and he was one of the few people who never questioned that I wanted to go to graduate school. I may not yet have the job I want, but I don’t have to do the hard manual labor that wore down his body and caused him pain not only at the time, but in the last years of his life.

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A Grave Concern: Hickock Wordless Wednesday

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A Grave Concern: He’s an Egyptian!

It’s been a while since I wrote about this, so on the anniversary of the opening of King Tutankhamen’s tomb, let’s look at some more examples of the Egyptian Revival style in funerary art. The United States and Europe were already pretty fascinated by ancient Egypt before 1922, so the discovery of the rich tomb attracted international attention. Some of that fascination was reflected in their cemeteries.

The light was better on this side of the Rice monument to show you the motif that runs all the way around the top edge.

The previous two examples are from Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. The last one is from Harrisburg Cemetery (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), and was so close to the cliffs at the edge that I could only photograph it from the side.

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A Grave Concern: Clearance fun

I had some fun at the post-Halloween clearance sales at local craft stores. For those of you who only know me online, one of my other passions is baking, particularly cupcakes. I found a silicone baking pan to make little tombstone shaped cakes.

I’m nowhere near as good of a candy maker as I am a baker, but I might have to try some Halloween candies next year with this mold.

(Side question to Wilton: Why 1916?)

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