New England Cemetery

 "In Memory of two children, son and dau., of Mr. John and Mrs. Naomi Harishorn(???)"
On left, "David, died April 16, 1771 in the 1st year of his life."
On right, " Naomi, died June 27, 1771 in the 1st year of her life."

Here's a rare three-person tombstone:

From left to right:
"Betty, died June y 12th, 1778. Aged 1 day."
"Anna, died Nov y 9th, 1789. Aged 2 days."
"Polley, died Oct y 3rd, 1790. Aged 2 days."

The curlicues on this next one are beautiful:

 "Memento Mori
Erected in memory of Mrs. Elisabeth Wilkens, wife of Lieu. Robert Wilkens, who departed this life July y 7th, 1784, in the 33rd year of her age."

 "One eye on death, one full for ???? Become a mortal and immortal ???"

"Friends and Physicians could not save,
My mortal body from the grave,
Nor can the grave confine me here,
When Christ shall call me to appear."

Memento Mori

These were taken at a little cemetery in Wilton, NH.

I'm not sure what this symbol means. It appears to be a cross within a four petaled flower, but it could be something altogether different. This is the first one I've seen like this.

This memorialized four people. The sleeping angel means simply death, according to my research. The angel is beautifully done and still looks great.

Possibly English Ivy? English Ivy on early American graves means friendship and immortality. In England, Ivy grew up and often covered graves and apparently, the trend continued here. I think this particular example is lovely and delicate.

Double grave of a married couple. There are two coffins, an hourglass (I think,) and skulls. This one is interesting in that the male memorial looks different from the female (on the right.) The male has wings while the female has flowers.

                                                                "Memento Mori"

Do you know about the first symbol? Leave a comment and let me know what it is.

Welcome To My New Blog

The very first post! Wow!

I recently took a trip to Salem, Massachusetts (yes, that Salem,) and discovered I have a hidden love for gravestone designs. This new found passion has taken up tons of space on my hard drive, but I'd love to share it with you.

This blog will be mostly photos with background information. I'm still feeling out this blog, so hopefully, it will grow over time.

If you notice that most of the photos lack names and dates, there is a reason for this; out of respect for relatives perhaps still alive. I hope you'll enjoy the designs anyway.

On to the very first pictures of this blog... In honor of my first post, I'm posting photos of Salem, the place that ignited this hobby.

The flying skull motif is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I've found endless examples of them and there seems to be no end to variations in this theme.

I believe this one has an angel with a setting sun design. To my understanding, at least three persons are within this tomb.

More variations of the flying skull theme.

I just liked this last picture. The grave to the left struck me as kind of lonely.