Episode 6: Awe, Part 2

In this, the second of three shows, we are still contemplating the fascinating gravestone art on the stone of Relief Wilcox Town of Halifax, VT, and the extravagant and symbolic nature of the moon/stars and willow motif. To understand what is could mean, we need a lesson is the history of gravestone art in the region.

New England was a culture dominated by the Puritans early on and their strict and dour beliefs are reflected in the predominance of mortality symbols, skulls, coffins, scythes, skeletons and devils in gravestone art up to the 1750s. Prior to and after the American Revolution, however, the population traded that heavy handed view of life on earth and after for a gentler, more compassionate attitude. This was reflected in a change in gravestone art motif designs to winged skulls, winged angels and soul effigies.

Places like Rockingham VT became populated enough to have their own gravestone carvers, those of the Wright School, and the burying ground behind the meeting house is full of examples of their notorious soul effigy figure. But by around 1820, gravestone began to be carved out of white marble instead of slate and people began opting for a more standardized motif of the now ubiquitous “willow and urn”.

So where does Relief’s gravestone motif design fit into all of this??? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Transcript Episode 6: Awe, Part 2

Musical Arrangement and Performance:
Jennifer Vannell: Badger Studios

Special Thanks: Cemetery Warriors:
Kate Butt and Theresa Janiszyn
Interviewees: Brian Post, stone mason and gravestone preservationist: Standing Stone Landscape Architecture, Springfield, VT
Jason Alden, Lauren Watrous and Paul Bowen, artists: The Drawing Studio, Brattleboro, VT