Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

The Commodore, steamboat builder and pilot, Cornelius Kingston Garrison (March 1, 1809-May 1, 1885) started building his fortune by building steamboats and operating his St. Louis steamboat company.  He went on to make another fortune in banking.  Garrison also served as mayor of San Francisco for a brief time in 1853 before he moved to New York City.

Garrison died in 1885 and the famed architect Griffith Thomas designed his Green-Wood Cemetery mausoleum at Brooklyn, New York.  Thomas was a notable and prolific architect with many buildings in New York City as part of his legacy including the Arnold Building, the old New York Life Insurance Building and the Gunther Building.

For the Commodore’s mausoleum, Thomas combined several architectural styles—Byzantine, Moorish, and Islamic—to create a striking tomb with an onion dome topped with a cross over the entrance.  Onion domes are characterized by having a bulbous onion shape which is larger than the drum on which it sits.

The Cornelius Kingston Garrison Mausoleum

Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee

Adelicia was thrice married and mother of ten children. Adelicia’s storied history begins at age 22 when she first married Isaac Franklin, nearly 30 years her senior.  Isaac raised cattle and tobacco on Fairvue, a 2,000-acre estate.  They had four children, one of whom died at birth.  Unfortunately, Isaac died at 57 leaving Adelicia a wealthy widow at the young age of 29.  Within three years, Adelcia married Colonel Joseph Acklen, a lawyer and businessman.  The couple had six children during their marriage and tripled their fortune.  Her second husband died in 1863.

Adelicia was left to manage the estate and proved to be a shrewd business person in her own right.  Adelicia was able to convince Confederate soldiers not to burn her Louisiana cotton fields.  At the same time she negotiated a million dollar sale of cotton to the British and was able to secure its passage through the Union blockade of the Southern ports.  Miraculously, Adelicia was able to survive the war without losing either her home or her fortune, one of the few Southerners to achieve that.

After the war, at the age of 50, Adelcia married Dr. William Archer Cheatham, three years her junior.  After 20 years of marriage, they separated.  When Adelicia died she was laid to rest in the mausoleum.  She is buried there with her first two husbands and nine of her ten children.

Even though the mausoleum is relatively small, the design makes it seem much taller than it actually is with the long thin pinnacle on the central dome stretching upward toward the Heavens.  The doorway of the tomb displays the pointed arch, a characteristic Gothic design that was part of the transformation away from the Romanesque rounded arch and heavy design.  Another feature common to Gothic architecture is the tracery found framing the small window above and the cinquefoil window within the doorway. The cinquefoil is an architectural feature that is composed of five sides.  The word comes from Latin meaning five leaves.

Inside the mausoleum is a magnificent statue of a nude winged angel.  The state of nudity in this statue symbolizes virtue and innocence.  This theory reflects the classical teachings of Plotonius who taught that the nude body was divine and without sin.  The idealized nude body was a reflection of the image of God Himself and therefore good and beautiful.  This angel represents the Neoplatonic ideal of nuditas virtualis, the state of innocence.

The angel, here, is holding a chalice and exposing her palm displaying drops of blood.  Usually this angel would be part of a larger scene of the Crucifixion.  Many paintings show angels capturing the blood of Christ, such as, Raffaello Sanzio’s Crucifixion (citta di Castello Altarpiece), Crucifixion by Giotto, and Crucifixion by Theophanes the Cretan.  The angels in these paintings capture the Precious Blood of the Savior which flowed from his hands, feet, and side.  The chalice that the angel holds is a symbolic reference to the Eucharist.

The Crucifixion by Raffaello Sanzio (1503-4)

The Larendon Tomb, Metarie Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana

General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893) was one of the most prominent and successful generals in the Confederate Army.  Beauregard commanded the defenses at Fort Sumter, and later at the First Battle of Bull Run.  He also commanded the Confederate armies that fought in the Western Theater of the Civil War—including at the Battle of Shiloh.  Even though, Beauregard did not have a good personal relationship with President Jefferson Davis, he and General Joseph Johnston helped convince Davis and the Confederate Cabinet that the armies needed to surrender and end the war

Beauregard was married to Marie Antoinette Laure Villeré one of the most prominent French Creole families in southern Louisiana with whom he had three children: René, Henri, and Laure. His wife, Marie died while giving birth to their daughter, Laure.  Beauregard doted on Laure and he cherished her.  Laure Beauregard was married March 4, 1878, at her father’s home in New Orleans, to Colonel Charles A. Larendon of South Carolina by Arch-Bishop Perche. Charles and Laure Beauregard Larendon had two daughters—Lillian and Laure.  Laure Beauregard Larendon died in New Orleans, July 4, 1884, at the age of 34. Her father was heartbroken by her death.  He commissioned a tomb to be built for her in the Metarie Cemetery.  Charles A. Larendon died December 26, 1918, he is also buried in the tomb alongside his wife.

The grand tomb is made of Belgian limestone and was believed to have been quarried and carved in Europe and then shipped to the Metarie Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, to be constructed.  The design of the tomb is Moorish Revival—with a modified dome resting on the four horseshoe arches characteristic of Islamic architecture.  Punctuating the tomb is a vibrant circular stained-glass window which can be seen on either side of that arch.

Stained-glass window in the Larendon Tomb.

A Byzantine Cross tops the dome on the tomb.The cross has three horizontal crossbeams—the top crossbeam carried the Latin inscription INRI (Iēsus Nazarēnus, Rēx Iūdaeōrum “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”), the second crossbeam was where Christ’s hands were nailed, and the bottom or third crossbeam was a footrest. The third crossbeam in the Byzantine Cross is slanted with the right side higher slanting downward.  According to tradition those on the right would ascend to Heaven, while those on Christ’s left would descend further south to Hell.

Greenwood Cemetery, New Orelans, Louisiana

Cast-iron is an oft-used material for fencing in cemeteries but it is also used as a building material for tombs.  The Pelton Family tomb in the Greenwood Cemetery at New Orleans is one of two identical cast-iron tombs in the cemetery.  The tomb was built by the Robert Wood & Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Miltenberger Foundry of New Orleans.

The door to the tomb is adorned with a male angel with an inverted torch in one hand and his arm around a woman.  The symbolism here looks clear that the angel is taking the woman’s soul to Heaven.

The cast-iron Karstendiek Family Tomb in the Lafayette Cemetery Number 1 at New Orleans is a Gothic Revival style jewel box.  Built in the 1860s it features pointed-arched tracery on the doors and pinnacles on the roof.

Grunow Mausoleum in the Forest Home Cemetery at Forest Park, Illinois

The second largest mausoleum in the Forest Home Cemetery at Forest Park, Illinois, was built for  life-long Chicago resident, William Grunow, (born April 30, 1893; died July 6, 1951) a partner in the Majestic Radio Company.

The pathway to the mausoleum is flanked by lions.  The lion has long been a symbol of bravery, strength, and majesty. In popular culture, the lion is known for its power and is called King of the Jungle and King of the Beasts.  The lion is often used as a royal emblem, found eight times in the Royal Arms for the Queen of England alone!

The lion in funerary art symbolizes the power of God. It is often depicted flanking the entrance of a tomb, as it is here, to guard against evil spirits to the passageway to the next realm. It also represents the courage of the souls the lions guard. There is also a connection of the lion to the Resurrection. It was once believed that lion cubs were born dead but would come to life after three days when the cubs were breathed upon by a male lion. The three days is significant because it is the number of days Jesus was in the tomb before he was Resurrected.

The mausoleum design is of the Ionic order, one of the three organizational systems of Greek architectural design. The Ionic order is characterized by the use of a capital (the top of the column) that uses volutes, a spiral scroll-like ornamentation. In this example, the capital is enriched with an egg and dart design. The Ionic column is slender and is often fluted.  The entablature (architectural composition resting on the columns) is composed of an architrave (lentil or beam) which is plain and divided into two or three bands and rests directly on the column; a frieze (the widest band between the capital and the cornice); and the cornice. The acroterion, an acanthus stone work, is placed at the apex of the pediment and at the corners of the tomb which completes solemn tomb.

Two striking features of the tomb are the statues on either portico.  One statue is of the Greek god, Mercury, which among his many roles, was the god of commerce.  Here he holds the caduceus, his symbol which has become synonymous with the medical profession.   The base of the statue is inscribed with the words, “The Spirit of Commerce.”

Underneath the opposite portico, is the statue of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, carrying the palm leaf.   The base of her statue reads, “The Spirit of Radio”.

Both statues honor what made Grunow his fortune.

The Darius Miller Mausoleum in the Rosehill Cemetery at Chicago, Illinois, is a magnificent example of Egyptian Revival architecture found in many large urban cemeteries. Egyptian ornamentation can be divided into three categories—architectural, geometric, and natural.  The mausoleum features–the cavetto cornice that curves into a half circle at the top of the tomb and above the doorway which is an example of architectural ornamentation; the torus molding that trails around the middle of the tomb, and the corners of the mausoleum that are designed to emulate long bundled papyrus; and the eight heavy columns with the highly stylized papyrus leaves at the top of each bell column are all examples of natural ornamentation.

The Darius Miller Tomb also features two winged globes with uroei above the doorway and on the side of the tomb in the cornice. In this example, there are three sets of falcon wings that are a symbol of the king, the sun, and the sky. The globe represents the Egyptian god, Horus. The uroei, snakes, are waiting to strike. They symbolize the king’s ability to ward off evil spirits. The tomb gives one the sense of solemnity and a sense of eternity, just as the temples of the pharaohs.

The story told on several Websites was that Darius Miller was fascinated with Egyptian art and architecture and that he supposedly had his tomb modeled after the Egyptian Temple of Anubis, the god of the underworld.  Also, because of Miller’s Egyptian obsession, Darius Miller was at the historic opening of the King Tut Tomb in Egypt.

Much has been made of the “curse of King Tut.”  Those who opened the tomb of King Tut and disturbed the contents would be susceptible to the curse, “Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of a pharaoh.”  Lord Carnavon, who funded the expedition to find and excavate King Tut’s tomb was, according to the legend of the curse, the first to die.  And many of the believers in the supernatural claim to this day that an eerie blue light emanates from the Darius Miller Tomb every May 1^st and that he, too, was felled by the curse.

The problem with the assertion that Darius Miller died as a result of the curse is absolutely false.  First of all, Darius Miller died August 23, 1914, at Glacier Park, Montana, and King Tut’s burial chamber was not opened until February 17, 1923, a difference of roughly nine years.  Furthermore, Lord Carnavon did not die from the curse either—a mosquito got him!

The myth and mystery surrounding Darius Miller and his tomb, though debunked quite some time ago, was seemingly more interesting than the real story of a young Midwestern man born April 3, 1859, at Princeton, Illinois, who started out in the railroad business at the bottom and worked his way to the top.  By all accounts, Darius Miller did it by being a hard worker and by being nice to all those he came in contact with.  Darius began working in the railroad industry in late 1877.  He held many positions at many different railway companies–stenographer in general freight office at the Michigan Central Railroad; clerk in the general freight office St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railway; chief clerk to general manager and general freight and ticket agent at the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad; general freight and passenger agent and then traffic manager at the St. Louis Arkansas and Texas Railway; traffic manager on the Queen and Crescent Route; traffic manager and then vice-president at the Missouri Kansas and Texas Railway. From November 15, 1898, to Dec. 31, 1901, Darius served as second vice-president at the Great Northern Railway.   On January 1, 1902, he was appointed first vice-president at the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railway.

By the time of his death, Darius Miller had risen through the ranks to become the President of the Burlington Railroad.  The August 26, 1914, issue of the Lincoln Daily News, flashed the headline, “Tribute Paid to Memory of R. R. Official: Railroad men and other citizens of Lincoln who knew Darius Miller, president of the Burlington road, express keen regret over his death.  Two weeks ago President Miller and several other high officials of the road stopped for a short time in Lincoln on their way west in a private car.  At that time President Miller appeared to be in the best of health.

“Secretary W. S. Whitten of the Lincoln Commercial club knew him well.  When Whitten was chief clerk to the traffic manager of the Eastern Minnesota railway, a part of the Great Northern system, Miller was in the same building at St. Paul where Mr. Whitten was employed.

“Darius Miller was a grand, good man.” Said the secretary.  “He was modest and unassuming. It was no trouble to see him.  The door of his office was always open and it required no red tape to reach him.

“He was a great friend of young men.  I may say that he was like a father to the young railroad men under his jurisdiction.  H was ready any time with a word of encouragement and was never to busy to be helpful.  He was a remarkable judge of men and picked out his subordinates with rare skill and judgment.  He placed them on their mettle and when they made good they were rewarded with commendation and with advancement in the service.  He was a big, brainy and genial and was the ideal railroad official.  He belonged to the modern type of railroad executives who made friends for the railroad.  Matters of traffic taken up with him were easily adjusted when they has merit to them.  During the time I have been secretary of the Commercial club it has been necessary to seek the adjustment of vexing traffic problems affecting the commercial welfare of Lincoln with the Burlington and Mr. Miller has always been fair in his treatment.  It was a pleasure to do to him with such matters because of his broad understanding of traffic conditions.  The last time I saw President Miller was during the latter part of June when he came to the Commercial club in company with Vice President Byram.  At that time he looked at the corner room on the first floor with a view to renting it for the district freight department.  It was but a short time after this that the contract was closed with the railroad for the room.  When I happened in Chicago and dropped in to see him he was very friendly and courteous and was never too busy to see me.  I think no railroad official in a high place will be missed more keenly than Mr. Miller.”

B. N. Loverin, a passenger conductor on the Burlington running between Lincoln and Omaha was a schoolmate and boyhood friend of Darius Miller.  Both lived in Princeton, Illinois.  Loverin graduated from the high school of Princeton just a year before Miller.  After his graduation the latter went railroading.  President Miller always has a warm spot for his boy friend.  And when Mr. and Mrs. Loverin were in Chicago three years ago they called at the C. R. & Q. headquarters to see President Miller.  He had felt sure that Mr. Miller would get well.  Mr. Bignell said that Mr. Miller had endorsed himself to all classes of railroads employees by his kindness and consideration for them and his winning personality.

The Oakland Tribune August 24 1914, ran the headline, “RAILROAD PRESIDENT IS CALLED BY DEATH.”  Their article went on, “Glacier Park, Mont. Aug. 24—Darius Miller, president of the Burlington Railway, died here yesterday following an operation for appendicitis.  Miller was touring the park when taken ill and returned to the hotel for treatment.  Special trains brought physicians and nurses and the operation was performed Saturday afternoon.  Hope was held out for Miller’s recovery until late this morning when he quietly passed away.  Mrs. Miller, Louie M. Hill, Miller’s lifelong friend, and Hale Holden vice president of the Burlington route were at the bedside when the end came.”

Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky

With the exception of the ornamentation on the top of the Spotts Mausoleum, two nearly identical mausoleums, one in the Cave Hill Cemetery at Louisville, Kentucky, and the other in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee, were designed and built in the Venetian Gothic style.

Owner of the St. Nicholas Hotel and Steamboat Captain Harry Innes Spotts was laid to rest in a mausoleum (above) designed by John Baird (1820-1894) who was the proprietor of the Steam Marble Works at Philadelphia which cut marble with steam power.   Baird’s shop gave customers standard designs to pick from.  Daniel Franklin Carter (1808-1874), a prominent Nashville banker, was buried in a mausoleum in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee.

Both mausoleums are designed in the Venetian Gothic style.  Venetian Gothic architecture combined several architectural styles—Moorish, Gothic, and Byzantine—into a single style reminiscent of the building designs that brought a confluence of cultures together to create a flourish and lightness to the canals of Venice.  During the Victorian era, several architects drew from the Venetians for creative building designs that was part of a larger revival that intertwined several styles into one pleasing to the eye.

When the Spotts Mausoleum was erected in the Cave Hill Cemetery the local newspaper, the October 14, 1866 issue of the Louisville Daily Democrat wrote, “It is of Moorish style architecture…this mausoleum is one of the most permanent and tasteful structures yet erected in our far-famed ‘city of the dead.’”

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee

Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

Maud G. Kennedy Holmes 1876-1955

John S. Homes 1863-1931

The John Homes Mausoleum, erected in 1934, was designed by the Charles B. Blake Company in the Art Deco style.  The mausoleum was built for Holmes, a successful real estate broker and his wife, Maud.  The horizontal lines and the geometric patterns are characteristic of the style.

Art Deco is a design movement from the 1920s that marked a break from the fluid and flowing Art Nouveau designs of the 1890s. The term ‘Art Deco’ is derived from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an exhibition of artists that showed their work in Paris in 1925.  Arts Décoratifs was eventually truncated to Art Deco.

Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Charles Feltman

(November 8, 1841-September 20, 1910)

The Charles Feltman Mausoleum in the Green-Wood Cemetery at Brooklyn is a neo-classical temple honoring the man many consider to be the creator of the American hot dog.  Feltman, a German immigrant, started out as a pie man, selling his wares from a cart at Coney Island.  His pies did not sell well, so he switched to a boyhood favorite of his—a sausage that he wrapped in a bun and sold with mustard and sauerkraut.

Two large urns flank the steps leading to the mausoleum.  The columns feature Corinthian capitals.  On each side of the doorway is a trio of mourning figures—the left side holding symbols of faith such as the cross and the dove—the right side showing their grief and sorrow. The pediment features two winged cherubs holding a wreath with the initial “F” in the center. The temple is topped with a cupola with the Archangel Michael standing guard.

Feltman’s most famous contribution to American culinary delights actually came from his protégé Nathan Handwerker, who left the employ of Feltman to start his own hog dog business—Nathan’s, meat-in-a-tube’s most famous creator!

Cavehill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky

With the exception of the ornamentation on the top of the Spotts Mausoleum, two nearly identical mausoleums, one in the Cave Hill Cemetery at Louisville, Kentucky, and the other in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee, were designed and built in the Venetian Gothic style.

Owner of the St. Nicholas Hotel and Steamboat Captain Harry Innes Spotts was laid to rest in a mausoleum (above) designed by John Baird (1820-1894) who was the proprietor of the Steam Marble Works at Philadelphia which cut marble with steam power.   Baird’s shop gave customers standard designs to pick from.  Daniel Franklin Carter (1808-1874), a prominent Nashville banker, was buried in a mausoleum in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee.

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee

Both mausoleums are designed in the Venetian Gothic style.  Venetian Gothic architecture combined several architectural styles—Moorish, Gothic, and Byzantine—into a single style reminiscent of the building designs that brought a confluence of cultures together to create a flourish and lightness to the canals of Venice.  During the Victorian era, several architects drew from the Venetians for creative building designs that was part of a larger revival that intertwined several styles into one pleasing to the eye.

When the Spotts Mausoleum was erected in the Cave Hill Cemetery the local newspaper, the October 14, 1866 issue of the Louisville Daily Democrat wrote, “It is of Moorish style architecture…this mausoleum is one of the most permanent and tasteful structures yet erected in our far-famed ‘city of the dead.’”

In addition to the two mausoleums found in Nashville and Louisville, this same design is found in two mausoleums in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. The difference, however, is that with each of these two mausoleums are not free-standing.   That is, the façade is designed and constructed in the same Venetian Gothic style, but most of the tomb in underground. It is likely that in both cases of these two mausoleums are constructed and built by the Steam Marble Works in Philadelphia. The Vorhees Tomb is ornamented just like the Spotts Tomb in Louisville and the Carter Tomb in Nashville.

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia

The Benson Tomb, is in the same architectural style, but is highly ornamented—with two large urns on the corners of the top of the tomb, and an angel in the center. In addition there are square urns on the “wings” of the mausoleum and a winged cherub under the date the mausoleum was built.

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia

What this appears to demonstrate is that though one could order the Venetian Gothic Mausoleum from the Steam Marble Works Company, one could also have this design customized to suit the tastes of the family.

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Art Nouveau movement was a bridge between Neoclassicism and Modernism and reached its popularity from 1890 to 1905.  Luminary artists such as Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; glass designers Rene Lalique and Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi among others used long fluid lines inspired from florals and plants in their work.

The gray granite E. E. Walling mausoleum in the Laurel Hill Cemetery at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an outstanding example of Art Nouveau design.  The flowing design around the doors and the bronze doors themselves exhibit the characteristics of the movement that made it popular.

This is my 500^th post. So, to commemorate the occasion, I wanted to write about something monumental. When it comes to funerary sculpture and architecture, nothing is more monumental than the pyramid.  The Egyptians knew how to bury their dead, especially when it came to burying the pharaohs.

After the French and British occupations of Egypt, there was a renewed interest in Egyptian architecture and symbolism.  The Egyptian symbol that is most commonly found in American cemeteries is the obelisk.  And the most famous obelisk in America is the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

But the pyramid is by far the epitome of Egyptian funerary architecture, the tomb of the pharaohs.  The oldest pyramid is the Pyramid of Djoser built over four thousand years ago from 2630 BC to 2612 BC.  The largest of the Egyptian pyramids is the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza built between 2589 and 2566 BC. This later pyramid was the inspiration for many of the pyramids found in American cemeteries, three of which can be found in the Green-Wood Cemetery at Brooklyn, New York, which I will write briefly about today: The Van Ness-Parson Monument, the Henry Bergh Mausoleum, and the Benjamin Stephens pyramid mausoleum.

The Henry Bergh Pyramid:

The pyramid mausoleum of Henry Bergh was built in 1888. It is an imposing structure. As far as mausoleums go, it is relatively unadorned except for the winged globe surrounded by two rearing snakes—the uroei—above the doorway. In this example, there are three sets of falcon wings that are a symbol of the king, the sun, and the sky. The globe represents the Egyptian god, Horus. The uroei, snakes, are waiting to strike. They symbolize the king’s ability to ward off evil spirits. On the entryway of the mausoleum is a large round bronze insignia of the ASPCA which displays a man lifting a club to beat an horse.  An angel comes between the man and the horse interceding to stop the cruelty.

The Benjamin Stephens Pyramid:

The Stephens pyramid, built in 1890, is very much like the Bergh pyramid in that the only ornamentation is above the doorway. Again, the winged globe is carved onto the lintel. The Stephens pyramid, though, while having the same base width is taller.

As Elizabeth Broman writes in her article, “Egyptian Revival Funerary Art”, Markers XVIII, 2001, pages 30-66, “The Bergh pyramid is angled lower and has a block-like shape that seems more firmly planted on the ground. The Stephens’ sides are more steeply pitched and it presents a loftier appearance because there is more surface area between the top of the lintel and the pyramidion: it appears to be reaching skyward, whereas the Bergh monument seems to have a solid, heavy center of gravity that is firmly planted in the ground.”

The Van Ness-Parsons Pyramid

This pyramid was built in 1931 for Albert Parsons. It is broader than the Bergh and the Stephens pyramids and is adorned with Christian and Egyptian symbolism.

The Egyptian and Christian symbolism share an uncomfortable coexistence.  The mausoleum displays images of the ancient pharaonic religion including the sphinx, the winged globe, and the uroei.  It also displays Joseph holding a lamb and Mary holding the baby Jesus. Many Christians objected to Egyptian motifs and their non-Christian origins.  To soften the impact, designers often included Christian symbolism.  In this case, however, the designer of the mausoleum believed there was a “long-standing identification between Americans, Christianity, and ancient Egypt.”

Note: For a more complete analysis of the Egyptian Revival architecture found in the Green-Wood Cemetery, check out Elizabeth Broman’s article, “Egyptian Revival Funerary Art”, Markers XVIII, 2001, pages 30-66. In her article she writes not only about the pyramids but other Egyptian Revival-style mausoleums found in Green-Wood.

The modern Romanesque mausoleum in the Rosehill Cemetery at Chicago has carved on it the laurel leaf. The vine starts half way up the rounded arch and leads to the top of the mausoleum where it culminates in a square on either side featuring the leaves of the plant. The laurel leaf represents special achievement—success and a triumph of worldly accomplishment. The mausoleum itself is a sign of worldly achievement but underscored by the symbolism of the laurel leaf.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio

Jacob Burnett

February 22, 1770 – May 10, 1853

Rebecca Wallace Burnet

August 23, 1778 – January 3, 1867

Jacob Burnet was a prominent citizen and early leader in Ohio, serving in various elected and appointed posts including, serving on the Territorial Council in 1799, elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, appointed to the state’s Supreme Court, and appointed to fill the Senate seat William Henry Harrison vacated when he was elected President.  He also authored the state’s first constitution.

He and his wife Rebecca are buried in the highly ornate white Italian marble mausoleum in the Spring Grove Cemetery which was designed by Cincinnati architect Charles Rule.  The sweeping lines, the flowing architecture and the high ornamentation are examples of Baroque architecture which was popular in the late seventeenth Century.  “Baroque” was a Spanish term for pearls that were oddly shaped.  The term was commandeered to describe architecture that was designed to have a feeling of movement, almost as if it was undulating and lyrical.  Judge Burnet was originally buried in the Presbyterian churchyard but was moved in 1865 when the mausoleum his wife had designed and built was completed.

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia

James Dougherty

1815 – 1900

Atop the light pink granite Dougherty Mausoleum in the Laurel Hill Cemetery at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a bronze statue of the bearded and handsomely dressed James Doughtery, an iron foundry owner, prominent citizen, and social reformer. He plied his trade in iron works and listed his occupation in the US Census as a machinist. Remnants of his trade are symbolized in his statue. He stands majestically next to a stand—the stem of which is fashioned to look like a very large screw with two large cogs leaning against it. On top of the stand are papers, presumably having to do with his work as a reformer—the Philadelphia House of Refuge (a house for wayward and delinquent boys and girls), The Franklin Institute (dedicated to science education), The Union League (founded in 1862 as a patriotic society to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln), and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Doughtery worked as a machinist beginning his trade and steadily growing his business. His success is recorded in succeeding census records that, in 1860, show him living with his wife, Mary, and their daughter, Euretta (nick-named Rettles), with one servant in their household. Twenty years later, Dougherty is listed as a retired machinist living together with his wife, daughter, son-in-law, Frank Kirkbride, and their daughter, Mary, and 4 servants. An indication of the success of his foundry business.

Dougherty’s Philadelphia Inquirer obituary, which ran on May 12, 1900, two days after his death, also mentioned his contribution during the Civil War, “During the Civil War when General Lee invaded Pennsylvania Mr. Dougherty was among the first to respond to Governor Curtin’s call for troops and raised a company from the industrial works in which he was interested.”

James Dougherty was 85 years old at the time of his death.

The modern-style polished-granite mausoleum in the Fairmount Cemetery at Denver, Colorado, was designed by and built for Temple Hoyne Buell (1895–1990) a noted architect who gained lasting fame for designing the first-ever American shopping mall. Buell was a prolific and highly successful architect who designed over 300 buildings in Colorado.

The Buell mausoleum is a modern architectural confection that combines Christian symbolism highlighted in the highly-elaborate Latin crosses on three brass doors that dominate the face of the building with golden goddesses flanking the entrance to the tomb–one Egyptian and one Greek. The mausoleum merges the holy symbolism of the Christian cross with statues that represent ancient Egypt and Greece, a juxtaposition of cultures and religions.

The Metarie Cemetery at New Orleans is by most accounts one of the great garden cemeteries in the United States, if such things are rated. The famous, the rich, the infamous, the highly decorated, and the obscure are all buried in this place. Some in modest graves, others in elaborate tombs fit for kings potentates, and even madams!

One of the most interesting monuments was built for Henry J. Egan, a Confederate Lieutenant Colonel, who was killed April 6, 1865, at Amelia Springs, Virginia, during General Robert E. Lee’s retreat. The monument was built to appear like a ramshackle Gothic Revival-style Church. It is a sham. The ruin was designed by Charles A. Orleans, one of the leading monument builders in New Orleans at the time, who was at the height of his fame when it was built in 1881. The Victorian folly, built to look like one thing when it is actually another, is a marble monument complete with mock cracks and crumbling stone to deceive the passerby.

Carved above the arched doorway into the tomb are the words, “Sic itur ad astra” – Latin which translates to “Thus to the stars”.

Goth Gardener, who has an impressive blog pointed, out that this monument actually marks the graves of several Egan family members. Their names have been added to the description of the monument. Goth Gardener also wrote a blog post about the Egan monument in Metarie Cemetery which can be found at this URL: http://goth-gardening.blogspot.com/2015/05/southern-cemetery-faux-ruins.html

(Inscription on the back wall of the church)

In Memory of

Bentinck Egan

Who died Dec. 27, 1881

And his brothers

Walter

Frederock

Yelverton

Henry

Augustus

The Good Sons of

Dr. J. S. Egan and I. M. Yelverton

Mother died 1884

Father died 1891

(on the floor )

Lieutenant Colonel Henry I. Egan

Killed at Amelia Springs, Va.

While in command of

Sharpshooters, Gordon’s Division,

Covering Retreat of Lee’s Army

April 6, 1865, Aged 24 years.

Dr. Yelverton B. Egan

Killed at the Battle of Sharpsburg

September 17, 1863, aged 24 years.

Letitia M. Yelverton Egan

Their mother

Died in London England 1884

Mary Louisa Egan

Only daughter of

James and Letitia Egan

Died Dec. 26, 1920

Buried with them in

Fulham Cemetery, London

Cecilia Maria Egan

Died Jan. 2, 1941

Frederick Egan and his wife

Julia Wilkinson Egan

 (inscription on the back of the building)

 BENTINCK

The Soper Mausoleum in the Fairmount Cemetery at Denver, Colorado, was commissioned by Susan Soper in honor of her husband, Roger.  The mausoleum is constructed of rusticated sandstone, that is, the sandstone on the sides of the mausoleum are rough cut as opposed to smooth or polished. Flanking the doorway are Corinthian columns that support an arched doorway with an intricately carved frieze in a half circle. Intertwined in the frieze are laurel leaves, symbolizing victory over death, and acorns and oak leaves, representing strength.

The roof of the tomb is constructed a series of stacked slabs each being smaller than the one before in creating a step pattern. Atop the top step is the life-sized allegorical figure of Hope, common in American cemeteries, leaning on an anchor. Hope looks toward the Heavens clutching her breast. The anchor, one of the earliest Christian symbols, represents faith. The anchor was used by early Christians as a disguised cross.  The anchor also served as a symbol of Christ and his anchoring influence in the lives of Christians.

According to Pioneer Cemeteries: Sculpture Gardens of the Old West written by Annette Stott, (page 182) the Soper Mausoleum was the first mausoleum built in the Fairmount Cemetery triggering a sort of race to create elaborate and ostentatious displays of grief. It represented a “social competition” among the wealthy women of Denver who were “contemplating tributes to their husbands.” Wealth combined with the Victorian traditions of displaying sorrow in an outward fashion caused ever bigger and more grandiose monuments to be built. Several large and impressive mausoleums were built in Fairmount Cemetery after the Soper tomb that were meant to keep up with the Jones, or in this case the Sopers.

Martin Sheets

1853 – 1926

Susan Sheets

1859 – 1929

Ethel

13 months

In the 19^th Century there were cases of people who had been found to be buried alive, in fact, one researcher found hundreds of such cases. Out of that sprang many such stories recounted to the horror of the public.

Edgar Allan Poe, master of the macabre, wrote a short story recounting tales of premature burial, in which he wrote, “To be buried alive, is beyond question, the most terrific of these extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality denied by those who think. The boundaries which divide Life from Death, are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends. And where the other begins?” It was widely known that Poe himself feared being buried alive—as did others at the time. He wrote about it in several of his stories, including The Premature Burial, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

That fear of being buried alive is known as taphophobia. The word can be broken in two—taphos, from the Greek meaning grave or tomb and phobos which is translated as fear. Together the word literally means fear of graves.

Some were determined that it would not happen to them and they would take measures to make sure that they were not buried alive. George Washington, for example, gave directions that he was not to be laid into his crypt until after three days. Others had devised glass top coffins so that others could see for themselves that the person in the coffin, had, in fact, died. Contraptions were also conceived to alert those above ground if an alive person had been lowered into the ground with the lid shut by rigging an attached rope to a bell above ground that could be tugged if suddenly the dead came “alive”. It makes good copy but the expressions “dead ringer” and “saved by the bell” did not originate from those devices.

The tales of people afraid of being buried alive are not all from long ago or to only be found in Edgar Allan Poe stories. The M. A. Sheets mausoleum in the Highland Lawn Cemetery at Terre Haute was essentially a modern version of the rope connected to a bell contraption to protect Mr. Sheets from being buried alive without a way to telling someone on the outside of the tomb that he was inside still with a beating heart! But instead of the rope and bell, Sheets had the mausoleum fitted with a telephone—making his mausoleum a sort of elaborate telephone booth. For safe measure Martin Sheets also had a bottle of whiskey in the tomb, as well. One would certainly need a bracer while waiting rescue!

The telephone lines are long gone now, but a mystery still remains. When Mrs. Sheets was found in her home dead, she was grasping the telephone—most likely in an effort to call for help…or, at least, that is what people thought initially. When her coffin was taken to the mausoleum for burial the telephone on the inside was off the hook!

The final paragraph in The Premature Burial tells what we must do with our fear—“There are moments when, even to the sober eye of Reason, the world of our sad Humanity may assume the semblance of a Hell—but the imagination of man is no Carathis, to explore with impunity its every cavern. Alas! the grim legion of sepulchral terrors cannot be regarded as altogether fanciful—but, like the Demons in whose company Afrasiab made his voyage down the Oxus, they must sleep, or they will devour us—they must be suffered to slumber, or we will perish.”