Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Interesting Stones in Harlington Cemetery

I took a recent jaunt through Harlington Cemetery in Waverly, Iowa, and while the cemetery was too large to cover all of it, I did note a few unique stones that I just had to capture.

Avery1
To the left is the monument of Capt. Orrin F. Avery, Company I  34 Regiment 10 Volunteers.  I was struck by the unusual ornate carvings on the front of the stone.  Two crossed spears, draperies, and a five-pointed star are situated above what could be a shield.  The area on the shield, below Capt. Avery’s inscription, reads, “Our Darling Baby Boy, Born and died Sept. 30, 1869.”

On the side of the stone, engraved on another of the “shields”, it reads, “My Beloved Husband, Orrin E. Avery”.  He was born in 1831 and died on May 24, 1870 – just 8 months after this dear woman lost her baby boy.  This ornate stone still exudes the sadness and loss of 110 years past.


Avery2

The Clarke monument, pictured below, featured two very large stone vaults. I am assuming the caskets were placed inside. I had never seen anything like this before.Clarke1

Cook

Above, a simple variation on the “log” theme.  Below, more ornate…

Log1

The plant carvings were very ornate, and the way the logs are laid out is unlike anything I’ve seen.  Three individual stones are modeled after stumps.

House

This small house was sitting on a hill at the entrance to the cemetery.  There did not appear to be any burials nearby.  I’m not sure why it’s there, or if it’s supposed to represent anything in particular, but it was an unusual and unexpected sight.

Bye

And lastly, we ran across this stone near the gate as we were leaving the cemetery.  I wondered if it had been strategically placed by the owners, as a way of bringing a smile to the faces of visitors…

1 comment:

  1. Great photos. We have those above ground vaults here, very few of them, but have seen a few.

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