Clam Lake, Wisconsin

I had an excuse recently to stop in Clam Lake, Wisconsin, to check out the cemetery. It's a pretty decent size so I thought there'd be a fair number of older gravestones and markers. I was wrong.

Wooden grave marker from 2001.

Although there were some markers that at first appeared to be quite old, either from weathering or from obscured by vegetation, I couldn't find anything that was pre-1960s for a date of death. 

The two flat markers in the above photo, for example, have apparently been in place for less than 10 years. 

There were some intriguing vernacular markers, like the wooden tablet pictured above (the information on it appears to have been printed with a Sharpie) and the one below:

I was touched by this marker:

The front is pictured below. The flowers make it impossible to photograph, but at this point, only one half of the couple is dead. 

And I thought the combination of the walking stick and the hat shown below was a nice personal touch. 

These markers in a corner, though, just had me baffled. Does Clam Lake allow pet interments around the edges? I have heard that some cemeteries are now allowing pets to be buried with or near their owners, but these look like they've been there for awhile. 

Then again, maybe I'm wrong in assuming "Our Precious Pepsi" was a pet. These days, you never know. 

Gone Home: a brief review

Gone Home: Southern Folk Gravestone Art is a good book, but a deceptively titled one. The word "southern" suggests it's going to provide examples from across the southern United States; in reality it focuses exclusively on cemeteries in the state of Alabama.

Similarly, the phrase "gravestone art" implies the authors are going to focus on the decorative elements of funerary art: statuary, carvings, headstone shapes and styles, and so on. Instead, the authors' passion lies in epitaphs. The authors do discuss carving, but the focus seems to be more on the development of the lettering used in epitaphs rather than on the decorative elements of a marker such as floral motifs and Christian symbolism. There is also an interesting discussion of folklore and memorialization, and the evolution of markers and inscriptions over time.

Nonetheless, while the book is a useful one for anyone interested in gravestones and the history of memorialization, a reader looking for a book that focuses on gravestone art overall rather than the content of the inscriptions would be doomed to disappointment. Similarly, anyone hoping for a book that provides a regional context should look elsewhere. This is a good book on a specific subject area, and as such as fairly limited in its content.