Hummelstown, Pennsylvania

Picture-Perfect Farmsteads:  What constitutes a farmstead? Barn, house, and outbuildings. If you grew up on one, your farm was your castle. It was probably more like heaven than anywhere else on earth. This month, expect a tapestry of farmsteads, the places many Americans called home. Hanoverdale Church Cemetery. [2019]

New Millford, Pennsylvania

One True Love ~ The Family Farm:  Some people take a headstone this size and use it for only names and dates. These farmers, however, saw a blank slate and wanted to fill it with some geography. They seem to have known that this would be their last view of life on earth, the view they would have as they glanced back just one more time on their flight to heaven. New Milford Cemetery. [2017]

Parkersburg, West Virginia

One True Love ~ The Family Farm:  The aerial photo doesn't suggest farming, but the tractor does, and so does the horse. Perhaps a corner of the old farmstead was chosen for their new suburban home, a place where they could enjoy their golden years. Quiz time: What's the name of the river you see here? Mt. Olivet Cemetery. [2014]

Notre Dame de Stanbridge, Quebec

Aerial Photographs on the Landscape:  The era of the family farm may be over, but it will live forever on cemetery tableaux noires all across North America. What do you make of the horse-drawn plow in this etching? Perhaps a symbol of the hard work and up-hill struggle it took to build such a prosperous agrarian microworld. Notre Dame de Stanbridge Church Cemetery. [2011]

Denton, Maryland

Aerial Photographs on the Landscape:  In the 1970s, the aerial photograph entered the realm of pop culture in rural America. Farmers began receiving photos of their farms taken from low-flying aircraft (with requests for payment). It was often the first time they got a God's-eye perspective on their little piece of planet Earth. Those photos were probably where the idea for headstones like this came from.  Concord United Methodist Church Cemetery. [2013]


The Man Who Lived His Dreams

Atlantic, Iowa

Aerial Photographs on the Landscape:  Aerial photographs seem so fitting in a Roman Catholic Cemetery. Why? Because an air photo is essentially a God's-eye view of the world, or, in this case, a God's eye view of the Harman farm. Saints Peter and Paul Church Cemetery. [2008]