For approximately fifty years after the Civil War, a popular way to memorialize young children who had passed was a figure resting in a half shell. Prior to 1900, twenty-two percent of all children in the United States died before their first birthday.
The shell can represent a pilgrimage, spiritual protection, and innocence. Using those meetings, it makes sense this became a symbol for child graves.
Wealthier families would employ sculptors to make one that represented their child. Poor families, who wanted their children memorialized, adopted the shell as a way to mark graves when Sears Roebuck offered them in their catalog.
Here is a great academic article about these monuments by Annette Stott.
Cinderella Cooper (1885-1887), Evergreen CemeteryHarry (1886-1892) and Nellie (1888-1892) Roberts, Kennesaw City CemeteryApril Lee Porterfield (1975-1988), McDonough City CemeteryRuby Colley (1899-1890), Morgan Methodist Church Cemetery
Located in the Marietta City Cemetery, this memorial for Mary Annie Gartrell (1853-1906) was erected by her sister Lucy. The grieving sister visited her sister’s grave twice a week, often on foot and in black, for the next 48 years. She became known as the “Lady in Black.”
I visited this cemetery in 2014. I knew it had been vandalized. It’s supposedly haunted. I did not experience any ghosts, witches, or green fog as mentioned in some of the tales I have read online. I am more inclined to believe the bad energy anyone experiences is caused by seeing a cemetery disrespected.
The only thing I was concerned about were there any vandals in the area. You can see from these photos there was a great deal of damage to headstones. I understand that the cemetery is now locked, and the police regularly patrol the area.
