Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.?ÿ My plans are to visit friends & family in the Memphis area and attend a Memorial Day Service at the VA cemetery in the Collierville area.
Enjoy the long weekend.
It's a beautiful weekend here in Puyallup!
Hope everyone has the same effect!
Dougie
Learn something from a veteran.
Visit at least one cemetery whether you knew anyone buried there are not. The things you can learn if you open your mind are amazing.
While visiting cemeteries look for any "headstones" similar to the ones shown below. They appear to be typical headstones but most definitely are not. Most will be found in areas of burials between about 1890 and 1920. They are referred to as white bronze memorials. However, they are powder-coated zinc. I refet to them as pot-bellied tombstones because they are hollow. They come in every size and shape imaginable and are personalized. Large monuments have detachable panels that contain the personal data for all to read.
The first photo was taken in the Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem, Oregon. The second and third are in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine. Thus proving that they can be found from coast to coast.
There is a Facebook group called White Bronze Headstones that has provided these examples plus thousands of others. The creativity is amazing. An added feature is that these monuments look nearly the same today as they did when manufactured. I have seen only one that was damaged, apparently by a large falling tree limb. I have found two larger ones where a back panel has been removed for some reason, allowing a look inside.
Knock on one to confirm it is hollow. If you hear, "Who's there?", run away as the Three Stooges would do.
I have visited one family plot with relatives where the marker is similar to the 2nd picture.
It's the only similar one I recall out of the graves of relatives and ancestors in at least 18 cemeteries (I'd have to look at my list again for the count).
Discovered a great thing had happened at the cemetery where one set of great-grandparents are buried. Someone or some group had cleaned up old military tombstones. Ol' Silas has been there since 1885 but his headstone was shiny white. Mother Nature has been a bit rough on the bit of poetry inscribed on it. But, it was still readable.
