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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 1h

Gravestone of Joseph and Preserved Ely, 1803 & 1775, at Elmwood Cemetery in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Carved by John Ely.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 1d

Gravestone of Benjamin Throop, 1750, at Trumbull Cemetery in Lebanon, Connecticut. Carved by Benjamin Collins.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 3d

This is a rather puzzling gravestone. It has the generic opening phrase “Here Lyeth the Body of,” but there is nothing else carved into the stone. It appears to have been made by William Stanclift, probably around the 1710s or 1720s, and it is located at Edwards Cemetery in South Windsor, CT.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 4d

A detailed portrait on the gravestone of the Rev. William Whitwell, 1781, at Old Hill Burying Ground in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Carved by the Park family, possibly Thomas Park.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 7d

Gravestone of Mary Morton, 1744, at Hill Cemetery in Hatfield, Massachusetts. It was carved by Thomas Johnson II, and it is one of the northernmost examples of the Johnson family’s work here in the Connecticut River Valley.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 8d

This description reflects a Connecticut tradition of enslaved people electing their own “black governor,” who would be responsible for representing and maintaining order within the African-American community. Boston Trowtrow served in this role from 1770 to 1772

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 8d

Gravestone of Boston Trowtrow, “Govener of ye Affrican Trib,” who died in 1772. he was buried at the Old Norwichtown Cemetery in Norwich, Connecticut, and his gravestone was carved by the Manning family. (More context in the comments)

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 9d

Gravestone of Hannah Devotion, 1719, at Old Center Cemetery in Suffield, Connecticut. This is an important early work by the so-called “Simsbury Bat Carver” (possibly Martin Winchel), and was probably carved in the early 1730s.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 9d

Gravestone of Charles Debell, 1787, at Church on the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, Massachusetts. Carved by Elijah Phelps.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 10d

An unusual flower design on the gravestone of Joseph Dresser, 1791, at West Thompson Cemetery in Thompson, Connecticut. Carved by Elijah Sikes.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 11d

Gravestone of Phebe Pomeroy, 1776, at Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, Massachusetts. Not sure who the carver was, but I think that Nathaniel Phelps did the lettering.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 12d

Gravestone of Mary Spaulding, 1749, at Old South Killingly Cemetery in Killingly, Connecticut. Carved by the unidentified so-called “Killingly Egg Carver.”

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 13d

Gravestone of Constant Dewey, 1702, at Old Burying Ground in Westfield, Massachusetts. She was the wife of Thomas Dewey, which is written somewhat enigmatically as “COR [i.e., consort] T / HO DEWEY” at the base of the stone. Carved by Joseph Nash.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 14d

Gravestone of John and Thomas Tawley, 1736 and 1737, at Old Hill Burying Ground in Marblehead, Massachusetts. This has an unusual design, featuring a winged skull on top, a full skeleton in the left border, and Father Time in the right border.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 14d

Gravestone of Jane Webster, 1797, at Bennington Center Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. Carved by James Collins, the son and grandson of prominent gravestone carvers Zerubbabel Collins and Benjamin Collins.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 15d

Gravestone of Brigadier General Moses Ashley, “who being in perfect health and in the midst of public business died in a sudden and unexpeeted manner” in 1791. He is buried at Stockbridge Cemetery in Stockbridge Mass., and his gravestone appears to have been made by Lemuel Johnson.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 21d

Gravestone of Susanna Hinckley, 1790, at Lothrop Hill Cemetery in Barnstable, Massachusetts. It was carved by one of the later generations of the Lamson family, and it features an unusual design of an angel with a trumpet, with the words “Arise th’ Dead” written on a banner coming out of the trumpet

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 21d

A large willow-and-urn design on the gravestone of Alexander Henderson (“a native of Scotland”) who died in 1783 at the age of 26. Located at North Cemetery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and carved by Henry Christian Geyer and/or John Just Geyer.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 22d

This gravestone is probably the finest stone that John Hartshorn ever carved. It is much larger than his usual work, and most of it is covered in a large coat-of-arms design. It was made for Nathaniel Emerson, who died in 1712, and it is located at Old Burying Ground in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 22d

Gravestone of Speedy Clark (maiden name Speedy Grow) at Chaplin Center Cemetwry in Chaplin, Connecticut. Possibly carved by Beza Soule?

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 23d

Gravestone of Eunice Clarke, 1785, at Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton, Massachusetts. The stone also memorializes her son, Richard, who died in 1776 at Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolution. Carved by Nathaniel Phelps.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 23d

Gravestone of Lois Dunbar, 1787, at Church on the Hill Cemetery in Lenox, Massachusetts. I believe that this was carved by Lemuel Johnson, brother of gravestone carver John Johnson, who produced brownstone gravestones of this same style in Durham, Connecticut.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 24d

Gravestone of Robert Chapmun, 1711, at the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford, Connecticut. Carved by William Stanclift.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 25d

Gravestone of Reuben Clark, who drowned in 1787 at the age of 20. Carved by Zerubbabel Collins, and located at Shaftsbury Center Cemetery in Shaftsbury, Vermont.

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Gravestones of New England @gravestones-ne.bsky.social · 27d

“When this you see remember me” - a simple epitaph on a simple yet charming gravestone for Agnes Anderson, 1754, at Old South Killingly Cemetery in Killingly, Connecticut. Carved by the so-called “Killingly Egg Carver,” an unidentified local carver.

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