"Let sweet-voiced mercy plead for her
who liest beneath the sod
May erring man not in pride usurp
the providence of her judge, her God."
Hello, Class. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to share Elmwood Cemetery with you all. I hope it was an informative and enriching experience for you. I suppose I, like many other visitors to Elmwood, have my favorite aspect of the place, and that is certainly the angel statuary, and the Victorian's predilection for symbols. As promised, this is your opportunity to share with me and the rest of our class your thoughts on historic Elmwood. What did you discover that you didn't know? What stood out to you most prominently? Do share! Below are some photos I have taken of Elmwood over the years. If you like, feel free to share your own in your post!
The headstone belonging to Alice Mitchell, the young woman who murdered her friend, Freda Ward.
The crouching angel who presides over one of the family plots near the chapel.
Detail of an angel statuary on one of the headstones.
Historic Elwood was a trek I've been wanting to make since we came to Memphis, so I was really excited to experience it with a guide. I've been to Arlington Cemetery, Rock of Cashel in Ireland and some on the mountains of N.C., its solemnity and pause for reflection are important for perspective. The first thing that stood out to me was the enormous statues of angels on pillars that tower like giants over me. It was like they guide the way through the park and make one feel under care and protection. The different types of poses they are in some beckoning, some pointing beyond made these woods ethereal. Having female faces is inviting one to a conversation about the purpose for my presence at the park and theirs. I was surprised to see such a tall enormous Obelisk to the confederates expresses how much they treasured their fallen and elevated them to heaven. Comparing that to the forgotten and lost memorial to the black slaves is exactly what Wanda Rushing is expressing in purposeful memories to build up white culture. The segregation of plots by ethnicity is so cultural and made me think of Little China, Little Italy and so on, strong and underlying ties of belonging from the living to the dead. We drove through the Italian influenced section and really was delighted by the statue of a man almost being carried by and angel, another example of angels leading the way. My favorite statue is the one with the lady holding her finger to her lips as if to say "shhhh....listen....Death is coming...are you ready?" Being shrouded allows one to feel the mystery of life and death, her life like size could be misconstrued at midnight as a night watcher, her arms ready to move at the slightest stirring. The last impression was the swing erected by a father to soothe his son while visiting his mother, personified death as a robber of precious time with loved ones. I'm glad this was part of our trek, I will return with visitors and now become their guide in Memphis culture.
ReplyDeleteExploring through a cemetery is a new thing for me. I usually avoid cemeteries and funerals due to the fact they always rubbed me the wrong way. Being pushed not only because participating was part of my grade, but also trying to break that fear. As the class met and we began to talk I calmed down a bit. As Dr. Lester gave us a tour and was pointing out different things we should know or hear about, the first thing that caught my attention was the story of Jasper Smith. His burial and sculpture of him is close beside his two sisters. but one of the major differences is that his body is not in his casket. There are stories that his body simultaneously disappeared but his sculpture was still in place beside his sisters. The very next thing that caught my eye that I had no clue about were these particular graves. When i first saw these graves I didn't think they were graves until I saw so many. My professor informed us that these graves were called bathtub graves. She stated that the bathtub graves were for the younger people. People that age varied from 20 years old or younger. Overall I enjoyed this trip because it was my first time but I incorporated some things into my final project.
ReplyDeleteFirst I would like to start by saying how beautiful the cemetery was! It took my breath away! Seeing so many beautiful statues in one place was kind of overwhelming, I wanted to capture every little thing on my phone. The first thing that I discovered about Elmwood was how many children was buried during the Victorian age. Seeing so many small "bathtub" graves was disheartening. Finding out that a lot of children in the Victorian age didn't live passed the age of seven was new to me. The second thing I discovered was how Elmwood is basically a big melting pot. People from all different backgrounds and all different struggles were laid to rest here and it's kind of funny because these same people most likely wouldn't have even came in contact with each other while they were in the living. What stood out to me the most was Robert Church burial. It was so grand and over the top, and I believe that it's the perfect representation of him. Although I enjoyed this trek I was kind of disappointed because I really wanted to see the slaves burial but to look on the bright side of things it does give me a reason to come back and explore.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first time every actually walking through a cemetery and shockingly everything about the environment was extremely unique. Especially when you enter over the one way bridge with the historic old metal Elmwood Cemetery sign over the top of the entrance. The first thing that caught my eye when coming over the top of the bridge is the statues of Ruth Smith and Eliza Smith, the reason is because of how tall they were and how the woman on top were designed by the woman after finding out of Dr. Lester. I also found it very ironic of how this cemetery had people from all kinds of ethnicities; because there was a Chinese, Confederate soldiers, and a slave burial section. The reason I found this ironic is because during that period of time, whites wanted to segregate the African-Americans in separate areas, like schools, which made me have the perception that the whites would have forced the African-Americans to have a specific cemetery for just their ethnicity. This is sort of off topic, but when we reached the back of the cemetery across the street was Cummins School and I thought to myself that it has to be extremely spooky looking out of your classroom window and seeing a cemetery filled with all types of deceased people. I also noticed that several of the head stones were a tall pinnacle statute with the person name engraved on it and found it kind of odd that so many people wanted that big of a monument on top of their deceased body, like Crump that appeared to have the tallest one I saw. This was definitely interesting trek and would not mind going back another time and tour on one of the days of the reenactments to try to have a sense of what some of these people were like and the society around them.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved going to the "spooky graveyard" and I expected Elmwood would be the Queen of all cemeteries. My expectations were most definitely met, but not as I predicted them to. The bridge was one of my favorite parts because it takes you over into another world. Elmwood was almost like a secret garden of American History. I instantly fell in love with the mystery behind the expansive cemetery. I was not expecting to see so much either. I never realize how expansive Elmwood actually was and I wish I had more time to view it all. I plan to go back so that I can do the audio tour (I didn't know this was an option). The stories are fascinating along with the unique tombstones. The Chinese section was beautiful and I would like to do more research about it.
ReplyDeleteI was very excited to go on this trek. This was my first time visiting Elmwood Cemetery. I have always had a fascination and curiosity with cemeteries, and Elmwood was very interesting. I was disappointed that we were unable to find the slave section because that I was drawn to it the most. However, I was also very drawn to the angels and loved taking photos of them. I don't have them on my computer, but posted them on my Instagram (naturaamore). The place was very beautiful and I would love to go back, especially around Halloween, for one of the tours. I found the Oddfellows and Civil War soldier's sections to be interesting, in how they were marked. I also found the Mason's obelisks to be fascinating too. The most interesting to me, however, were the Victorian bath graves. It made me sad to see the children's graves, but it gave me a little bit of hope to see the flowers on top of their graves. I liked the symbolism of that plus the trees with the ivy, showing that there is eternal life even after death. To me, that's beautiful. Seeing Elmwood and learning about different lives definitely makes a person think while they're here. If I would like to perhaps go back to Elmwood and learn more history. I would also like to visit the National Cemetery too. This was my favorite trek and I wouldn't mind going again.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Victorians were not so strange to think a stroll through a cemetery could offer tranquility and reflection; it did for me. I found the quiet and beauty of Elmwood had transformative powers that allowed me to visualize historic Memphis events that prompted a new, emotional response. For example, seeing the graves of Yellow Fever victims helped me to understand the magnitude of devastation it created and brought out a level of emotion I had not felt reading about the epidemic. I found a similar emotion response erupt when we visited the mausoleum of Robert Church. Reading the inscription on front from the Commercial Appeal you are reminded of the profound impact this man had on the city of Memphis and how much we collectively owe to his service. What I learned from Elmwood is that while I always knew cemeteries to be historic, I hadn't appreciated the very human connection the presence of death brings us to figures from the past, big and little. While we cannot know every detail of every Yellow Fever victim, we can learn their traumas and mourn them in Elmwood. And we can also pay respects to the titans of Memphis who changed our cities history. They are all equal on the fields of Elmwood, leveled by death.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for posting so late. The Elmwood cemetery was really interesting. I was actually excited to go, but when I got there I was creeped out. I wondering why I was so excited to see a cemetery, that just didn't seem right. Of course, once I started talking to people and Dr. Lester started doing the tour it was actually quite interesting. I loved how the Odd Fellows were marked and I loved how the cemeteries had angels on it. It was kind of like being in a scary movie, where the main character somehow ended up in the cemetery. One of the most interesting things to me was the grave with the swing set. I thought it was very cool how the dad wanted his son to visit him. Therefore, he put the swing set there to help encourage him to come visit his father and show him that there was nothing to be scared of. I also thought the story of the Smith sisters was very cool. I loved how the cemetery also had different ethnicities throughout the whole thing. There was this Chinese or Japanese section, and there's this slave section. I found this cool because yes they are all segregated by race, but at the same time there all together in one place. It's like there segregated, but not at the same time. Overall, I really enjoyed it and I would love to go back and try to find the slave section and maybe purchase the cd and do the car tour. Oh, I also enjoyed seeing Robert Church's section in the cemetery.
ReplyDeleteElmwood for me was most definitely an intriguing experience. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. The main thing that stood out to me were the Odd fellows, particularly because of their small graves and their peculiar name. Other stand outs from Elmwood include the Mason obelisks that fill the cemetery. I found it intriguing how the cemetery was separated into different sections depending on who or what you are. There's some sad irony that, even in death, people are separated into different locations, even though in death, there are no differences. Particularly, the Church crypt stood out to me as a very interesting monument, and, I will not lie, the temptation to open the door to it was there. Overall, I think that the trip was very eye-opening in its unique way. Truly death is the great equalizer.
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