Northfield, Vermont

Identity Headwear ~ Skiers:  What is a ski cap? Anything you wear to cover your head while skiing. They may take many forms, but the tight-fit, knitted ones are those we know best. They symbolize an active life. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2018]

Northfield, Vermont

The Last Shall Be First, and The First Last:  Zedick is apparently a Hebrew name, but it is hard to ignore the fact that all Anglophones (except Americans) use "zed" to refer to the letter Z. In the Bible, Adoni-zedeck is is a pre-Israelite king of Jerusalem. In Hebrew, his name means 'righteous lord.' If we lettered days instead of numbering them, January 24 would be January X since X is the 24th letter of the alphabet. Mount Hope Cemetery. [2018]

Burlington, Vermont

The Last Shall Be First, and The First Last:  It looks like we have all made it across the bridge (see it?) to the new year! And, the first month of the year seems like a good time to commiserate with the last among us: those who have gone through life at the end of the alphabet. Now, they can be first in calendar order, starting with Zweeres. How much lower (in alphabetical order, that is) can you get? Greenwood Cemetery. [2011]

Northfield, Vermont

Voices from the Land of the Living ~ First Person Plural Subjective Case:  "We Loved You Best. So this is where we part, My Friends, and you'll run on around the bends, gone from sight but not from mind, new pleasures there you'll surely find . . . " These are the words Daddy and Mommy penned for their departed pets. Calvary Cemetery. [2018]

Barre, Vermont

Surname Initials as Identifying Logos ~ A:  The letter A is the third most frequently used letter in the English language. Here it stands alone in three dimensions, a tribute to the stone cutters of Barre who, using Rock of Ages granite, turned cemeteries nationwide into museum-quality sculpture gardens. Hope Cemetery. [2002]

Lyndon Center, Vermont

Balloon Rides to Heaven:  Take one last look at at the lake before you go where that airplane can't take you. Up, up, and away: beyond the clouds. With a little lift from the angels circling that balloon, you are about ready to exchange the Northeast Kingdom for the Heavenly Kingdom. Lyndon Center Cemetery. [2009]

Lyndon Center, Vermont

History of Aeronautics ~ Chapter 3:  Aerodynamic principles were successfully applied to air transport in 1903, only three decades before these two were born. When they were children, the era of commercial passenger-carrying airplanes began, and the era of commercial passenger carrying airships ended in its infancy with the Hindenburg disaster. The two competing technologies are portrayed on the headstone here. [2009]

Barre, Vermont

Solid Geometry in the Cemetery ~ The Cube:  A cube is a regular hexahedron. How could you use it to commemorate your regular life? A cube is one of only five regular polyhedrons, which makes it rather extraordinary. How could you use it to commemorate your extraordinary life? What would you put on each of its six faces? Words? Images? Hope Cemetery. [1983]

Windsor, Vermont

Doors as Metaphors:  Colonial cemeteries often look like fields of doors: some squared, some arched, some embellished. Doors mark passages with clear beginnings and endings. In scientific terms, they symbolize a system boundary. Like a doorway that closes behind you, death marks the end of life and the beginning of afterlife. Old South Church Cemetery. [2009]

Albany, Vermont

Zoning Out ~ The Land Use Zone:  The land use zone is the acreage set aside for disposal of the dead.  In the case of family cemeteries, their landscape architecture evolves organically; they grow as people die. Cemeteries as land use zones add yet another layer of names to the cultural landscape. The names of family cemeteries echo the clannishness of generations past; the last internment here was in 1943. With a name like Hovey Cemetery, you can anticipate at least one of the names that will appear on these hilltop headstones in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Hovey Cemetery. [2009]

Lyndon Center, Vermont

Covered Bridges on the Landscape:  In the poetic words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: 
        “The grave is but a covered bridge
        Leading from light to light, through a brief darkness!”
Longfellow was a New Englander who must have traveled through many a covered bridge in his day. One of them made it into The Golden Legend, which was written in 1851 during the heyday of the covered bridge. Lyndon Center Cemetery. [2009]

Barre, Vermont

Focus on Hope Cemetery:  In the early 20th century, immigrants from northern Italy brought their chisels and hammers to the Green Mountains and applied them to one of the world's greatest reserves of tombstone-quality granite. Back in the old country, they had role models like Michelangelo. In Vermont, they became role models. Marking the grave of Albert Ceppi is a bas relief of the sculptor drawing both himself and Jesus out of a granite block: a dual resurrection. [2002]

Barre, Vermont

Focus on Hope Cemetery:  Joey Laguerre loved cars, but he died in a snowmobile accident in 1991. Left behind was his race car, #61. It became, in a half-size granite replica, his chariot to the afterlife.  But it also became one of the signature sculptures of Barre's granite masons: proof positive that Italy's loss was America's gain. [2002]

Barre, Vermont

Focus on Hope Cemetery:  With the Rock of Ages granite quarry next door, you might expect to find the world's best granite memorials on display at Barre's Hope Sculpture Garden. Sorry, Hope Cemetery. How better to say "At Rest" than with a bed (or two: so 1950s!). It looks like the Halvosas are wearing new pajamas. [1983]

Set me as a seal
Upon thine heart
For love is strong
As death
Song of Solomon 8:6