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    Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones
    Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones
    Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones
    Ebook159 pages40 minutes

    Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones

    By Thomas E. Gilson

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    Gravestones are colonial America's earliest sculpture and they provide a unique physical link to the European people who settled here. Carved in Stone book is an elegant collection of over 80 fine duotone photographs, each a personal meditation on an old stone carving, and on New England's past, where these stones tell stories about death at sea, epidemics such as small pox, the loss of children, and a grim view of the afterlife. The essay is a graceful narrative that explores a long personal involvement with the stones and their placement in New England landscape, and attempts to trace the curious and imperfectly documented story of carvers. Brief quotes from early New England writers accompany the images, and captions provide basic information about each stone. These meditative portraits present an intimate view of figures from New England graveyards and will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in early Americana and fine art photography.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWesleyan University Press
    Release dateNov 16, 2012
    ISBN9780819573025
    Carved in Stone: The Artistry of Early New England Gravestones

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      Book preview

      Carved in Stone - Thomas E. Gilson

      CARVED IN STONE

      ii

      Wesleyan University Press

      Middletown CT 06459

      www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

      © 2012 Thomas E. Gilson and William Gilson

      All rights reserved

      Manufactured in China

      Designed by Mindy Basinger Hill

      Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro

      The essay portion of this book was first published as Stone Faces, along with twelve photographs, in the New England Review.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Gilson, Thomas. Carved in stone: the artistry of early New England gravestones / photographs by Thomas E. Gilson; essay by William Gilson.

      p.   cm.

      Includes bibliographical references.

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7301-8 (cloth: alk. paper)

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7302-5 (ebook)

      1. Cemeteries—New England—Pictorial works.

      2. Sepulchral monuments—New England—Pictorial works.

      3. NewEngland—History—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775.

      I. Gilson, William. II. Title.

      F5.G55 2012

      363.7'50974—dc23    2012010810

      5  4  3  2  1

      For Carolyn, Ethan, and Jimena

      THOMAS E. GILSON

      For Alison, Tom, and Joe

      WILLIAM GILSON

      vi

      CONTENTS

      Preface

      Acknowledgments

      Stone Faces

      Plates

      List of Plates

      Bibliography

      viii

      PREFACE

      The early New England settlers found themselves in a harsh, unfamiliar environment, looking for a new beginning. What they brought with them were their skills, ingenuity, and, more than anything else, their perseverance and their religious faith. One of their legacies, one that still resonates in our culture, is revealed on the stones in early New England graveyards. With their sometimes inscrutable images, these stones provide glimpses into how these early settlers viewed this world and the next. Sermons, journals, and other writings from this period reveal a grim vision, and the gravestones’ images reflect the same severity. From approximately 1640 to 1810, the craft of stonecarving flourished in New England, with hundreds of carvers producing thousands of works. Most of the stones still exist, their striking combination of beauty, oddity, grimness, and whimsicality available to anyone willing to search them out. Few people, though, will visit and view these underappreciated works of art, possibly because they deal so deliberately with death.

      My fascination with early New England gravestones paralleled that of my brother, Bill, though for many years we approached the subject independently and from different perspectives, he through writing and I through photography. Each in our own way, we had always relished our time in these quiet, peaceful places. For me, the focus on the images of stone themselves brought me close not only to the human experience and expression of those early settlers, but also to a sense of meaning and expression in my own life. Often, in the end, what I have seen and attempted to record with my camera became more than I anticipated. When Bill and I discovered our parallel interests in these graveyards, we decided to collaborate on this book. I hope this documentary work pays tribute in some small way to the artistry of the early New England stone carvers.

      x

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      For this book I am indebted to a number of people for their help and support. My heartfelt thanks and appreciation, in particular, to: Bob McCann for his careful and insightful eye and knowledge of all things photographic; Christopher Collins for his literary stylistic advice; Joan Schweighardt for her extraordinary attention to all details leading up to publication; Renee Rockoff for the preliminary book design; Suzanna Tamminen for her guidance; and to the many friends and family members for their generosity and encouragement, among them Judy and Noel Hanf, Juliet Taylor, James Walsh, Elizabeth Chan Reeves, Robert L. Reeves, Daria and the late Peter Hanssen, and Mary Coman.

      Also, I would like to extend my gratitude to Jessie Lie Farber and the late Daniel Farber of the Association for Gravestone Studies for their extensive research and cataloguing of New England gravestones.

      TEG

      I am grateful to Carolyn Kuebler of the New England Review for her sensitive and careful editing, to the

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