Category Archives: Symbolism

-Alabama, Cemeteries, Churches and Temples, National Register of Historic Places, Symbolism

St. Andrews Church-Prairieville, Alabama

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Hale County

This Carpenter Gothic church is located in Prairieville, Alabama. The congregation of St. Andrews Episcopal Church was founded in 1834. Enslaved laborers built this incredible church in 1856. These builders were loaned to the church by members who were slaveholders.

The cemetery contains a significant amount of ironwork and fencing. Many posts featured common symbols found in a cemetery. The upside-down torch represents a life that has ended or snuffed out. The arrows represent mortality. If you look closely at the road, you will see three leaves, and that represents the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

-Georgia, Cemeteries, Symbolism

Circus Train Wreck Memorial-Columbus, Georgia

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On November 22, 1915, the Con T. Kennedy Carnival Show left Atlanta for a show in Phenix City, Alabama. Unfortunately, over 50 passengers were killed when their train collided with a steel passenger train, which was significantly stronger than the carnival train. After a mass service at the Columbus First Baptist Church, there was a large funeral procession to Riverdale Cemetery, where the carnival show members were laid to rest. The Con T. Kennedy erected the “Under the Big Tent” monument in memory of those who lost their lives.

-Georgia, Cemeteries, Famous People, National Register of Historic Places, Symbolism

Flannery O’Connor at Memory Hill Cemetery-Milledgeville, Georgia

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Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) was an American writer for her novels and short stories. Her final resting place is next to her parents in Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville, Georgia. Despite being born in Savannah, Milledgeville was Flannery’s home. Her family moved there when she was fifteen and lived there until her passing at 39. Her childhood home and the family farm, Andalusia, still stand in Milledgeville.

Whenever I’ve visited her grave, there have been flowers and other mementos. When I took this photo, someone(s) had left behind coins as a sign that someone visited. The IHS symbol stands for Iesus Hominum Salvator, which means Jesus, savior of mankind, or it can stand for the first three letters of Jesus’s name, iota eta sigma.

-Georgia, Cemeteries, Symbolism

Garbutt Family Plot-Lyons, Georgia

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William Rawlings Garbutt, 1908-1910
Missouri Garbutt (1864-1912) and William Rawlinga Garbutt (1890-1907)

The Garbutt family was a prominent family in Lyons, Georgia. Their wealth was generated by work in the lumber industry Their home still stands in Lyons. You can see it on Brian Brown’s Vanishing Georgia website.

-Georgia, Black History, Cemeteries, Symbolism, Vernacular Headstones

Sheffield UMC Cemetery, Georgia

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Down a sandy road, there is the Sheffield UMC Cemetery which has several vernacular headstones made with tile. Outside of marbles, this is one of the most used materials I see in homemade headstones and ledgers. There was a church next to the cemetery, but it burned many years ago.

-Georgia, Cemeteries, Symbolism, Vernacular Headstones

Lord. I Am Redy-Tifton, Georgia

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This vernacular headstone can be found in Greenwood Cemetery in Tifton, Georgia. The KOFP represents the Knights of the Pythias. The interlocking links are a symbol of the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows, and the links stand for friendship, love, and truth.