"Gravestone Art and Symbolism"

A presentation tomorrow 9/12 at the Sussex-Wantage Branch

 of the Sussex County Library System, 66 Route 639, Wantage, NJ, 07461.

 Phone#   973 875 3940     www.sussexcountylibrary.org

by  wiseowlworkshops.com   for Adults and Focused Teens

Early New England burial grounds were the first public art galleries in the New World. Even today, many of these tranquil sites display the remarkable artistic, cultural and religious changes of this region. Old gravestones or markers often explained how entire families lived and died.

This presentation will cover the progression and interpretation of early symbols or icons, from those seen in family burial plots to the more elaborate ones seen in the “rural” and lawn park cemeteries of the Victorian era and, later still, in the Memorial Parks of the 20th Century. 

Modern examples of memorialization and symbolism will be included, as will the changing techniques and skills required by the early slate and sandstone carvers, contrasting with today's techniques such as laser etching. It includes some stories of people that these stones commemorate. Covers the progression and interpretation of early symbolism, from family burial plots to the elaborate rural cemeteries of the Victorian era, through to the Memorial Parks of the 20th Century. 

The 1 hour presentation will conclude with an opportunity for questions and a photographic tour of some local cemeteries.