So tempting

Would the ghostwriter question the client's veracity? Or simply go along with some individual revisionist history? It might kind of nice to have the grandkids thinking I won a Pulitzer or climbed Everest. . . Considering the service costs $100 an hour, with a typical fee of $250 to $500, you'd hope a little creative license would be fine.

Barnes Hecker

I came across this photo of the rather odd Ely Township Centennial/Barnes Hecker mine disaster memorial while scanning my dad's slide collection.  He took the photo shortly after the marker was erected. The marker has since been moved to the grounds of the Michigan Mining Industry Museum in Negaunee Township -- I'm not sure why. The marker was not at the actual mine site to begin with, so it wouldn't seem to make much sense to move it from one township to another.  The marker used to be next to US-41 a few miles west of Ishpeming.

It always struck me as an odd memorial -- the combination of commemorating the township centennial with remembering what is still considered one of the worst mining disasters in US history is a bit strange.

Four Sabine County, Texas, cemeteries

The Mt. Sinai Cemetery is a relatively old cemetery, with its first interment dating back to 1894, and is located in the community of Fairmount close to the Beechwood subdivision on the Toledo Bend reservoir.  The cemetery does include graves with older markers; these are reinterments necessitated when three local cemeteries located closer to the Sabine River were inundated following construction of the Toledo Bend dam in the mid-1960s.   The cemetery includes a number of interesting markers, as well as this poignant tableau:  

The swing faces this marker:

One can only assume that Gerald's parents spent quite a few hours in the swing while visiting with their deceased son. 

Mt. Sinai also includes this amazing stainless steel marker:

The photos don't do it justice.

 The Fairmount Cemetery is located on Texas Highway 87.

Like the Mt. Sinai Cemetery, it is relatively old and has a Texas Historical Commission book on a stick providing a brief history:

I was actually more intrigued by the sign instructing people not to bury pets in the cemetery (enlarge the first photo to see; it's the smaller sign on the fence) -- is that a common problem?  Most markers in the cemetery were standard, 20th century commercial stones, although there were a few graves marked only with fieldstones:

There was also one vernacular marker that was a little unusual in having a replacement gravestone placed adjacent to it.  Usually the vernacular stones are discarded when a commercial stone replaces them.

 The Ener Cemetery near Yellowpine is a traditional pioneer family cemetery. 

A few of the older stones have weathered to the point of being difficult to read, but most are still quite legible, and are standard commercial markers.

The Yellowpine Cemetery is a relatively new community cemetery.  Like the other three, it is well maintained.

I'm always intrigued when cemeteries located close to each other geographically exhibit different customs or practices, and Yellowpine does have a few characteristics not seen at Mt. Sinai or Fairmount.  Putting an edging around the family plot and keeping it neat with sand or crushed white rock is a popular practice:

This plot with its carefully raked sand is reminiscent of a Zen garden:

I was also quite frankly stunned by this:

I'm hoping this has some meaning for the family that isn't obvious to an outsider, because "Ho! Ho! Ho!" feels like a rather odd sentiment to place on a grave.

Warren G. Harding Tomb, Marion, Ohio

Two photos taken in August 1988.  The Harding tomb was designed to have one column for every state in the Union, but by the time construction began the Teapot Dome scandal and others had hit the newspapers and donations dried up, resulting in it falling two short, 46 instead of 48.  Given Warren G. Harding's current reputation historically, it can be a little hard to believe the country was devastated when he died in office.   

Some historians believe that Harding, who was personally honest (his weakness was women, not lining his pockets) was beginning to realize just how corrupt some of his friends and cronies were and that the stress of worrying about impending scandal contributed to his untimely death.  There's also been speculation that his jealous wife had him poisoned, but it's most likely he died from complications of a food-borne infection.  No one knows for sure because the doctors who had been treating him just prior to his death all gave different descriptions of his illness, and his wife had him embalmed in record time. 

Words fail me

Located in Galloway, Wisconsin, at the intersection of County Highway C and Wisconsin state Highway 49.  It's more colorful in person, if such a thing is possible.

It does pay to get off the Interstate occasionally.

Photo taken May 26, 2010, enroute to Antigo from Stevens Point.

Paint Rock, Alabama

The northwest corner of the intersection of state highway 65 and US highway 72. No identifying information and, given the weeds starting to block them, no recent maintenance.

Emmet Cemetery, Dodge County, Wisconsin

I found this nifty example of a modern personalized vault while on vacation last summer.  I was taking Wisconsin highway 26 north from Janesville to Oshkosh and was feeling the need for a break from driving when I spotted the Emmet Cemetery.  I decided to stop, stretch my legs, and see if there were any markers of note, e.g., zinc or vernacular concrete.  

It's a typical rural community cemetery, and at first didn't appear to contain anything out of the ordinary.  The markers were a mix of popular styles dating back to the late 19th century, the usual tablets and obelisks with the exception of one tree marker. 

The tree was meant to designate a family plot.  There is one individual grave marker close to it, a small stump.  I'm always a little intrigued when I see that, a family plot that someone obviously intended to be the final resting place of multiple family members but only one or two persons end up interred there.  What happened to the rest of them?  Moved away?  Decided the idea of spending eternity next to one's parents or siblings had no appeal?  

The Sterwald vault shown is at the extreme rear of the cemetery, more or less at the center of the back row.  It is undoubtedly one of the niftiest modern personalized markers I've seen recently.  The use of color, the aerial view of the farm, the inclusion of the family pets (2 dogs, 2 cats) and the tractors . . . it's amazing. 

Photos were taken in late June 2009. Apologies for the mediocre quality; I was using a new camera and still figuring out how it worked.