Friends of Oak Grove Cemetery » Cemetery Structures

At Death’s Door

administrator — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:45:18 +0000

Our mailbox today has an interesting comment from Jackie:

“Can you tell me what they call the window/door that was used to move the dead body from the home? I have heard it called “death’s door” hence the expression of one being at death’s door. There is some superstition about moving the dead through the front door.”

REPLY

I am aware of some superstitions surrounding the removal of a body from the home. The deceased was always taken out feet first in the coffin so that the dead could not look back at its home and the spirit remain inside the house. Many houses of the mid-to-late Victorian period have a special niche called a “coffin corner” cut into the stairwell so that the coffin could make the turn in the flight of stairs by fitting the head of the coffin into this little niche shelf. Some old homes also have a showcase window in the front of the house, a sort of bay window where the deceased could lie in state for people to pass by on the street and pay their respects.

The expression “at death’s door” is applied to someone so ill as to be at the very brink of death. In funeral statuary in cemeteries, a door is often used as the symbol for passing through the portal from Life to another state. Arches, windows, and portals carry the same meaning. Sometimes in remote rural homes, a door was used to lay the body upon when carrying it downstairs (as most died in upstairs bedrooms). Boards made of wide planks of wood or caned surfaces were used as “cooling boards” to lay out the body during autopsy or embalming before placing the deceased in a casket or coffin. Please write and tell us if you have more information on this expression!

Filed under: Cemetery Structures, Funeral Vocabulary, Potpourri, Superstitions, Victorian Funeral Symbolism

Oak Grove Facebook Quiz Tonight!

administrator — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:24:05 +0000

Need more excitement in your life? Nothing good on T.V.?

Tune in tonight,( September 15th) at 10 p.m. for the first ever (but not the last) So you think you know Oak Grove Cemetery? Jeopardy-style online quiz.

Questions and photo identifications will be posted in rapid fire, each going up after the previous one has been correctly answered. There will be one winner, with difficult brainbusters in case of a tie. Join us at Friends of Oak Grove Fall River tonight. A prize will be awarded to the winner- and the competition will be fierce! How well do YOU know Oak Grove?

Filed under: Announcements, Borden-Related Graves, Cemetery Structures, Civil War Monuments, Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Famous, Famous Burials, Funeral History, Navigating Oak Grove, Oak Grove Notables, The History of Oak Grove, The Victorian Way of Death, Victorian Funeral Symbolism

History of Oak Grove now available

administrator — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:24:57 +0000

A History of Oak Grove Cemetery and Walking Tour of Borden-Related Graves and Buildings is now available at the Fall River Historical Society and the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum giftshop. A copy will also be available this week at the Fall River room in the public library. The booklet retails for $19.95 plus tax and includes a CD of 151 color photos illustrating graves mentioned in the booklet and examples of Victorian symbolism in stone carving. To purchase a copy directly from the author, a check may be made to and sent to Shelley Dziedzic. P.O. Box 86, North Stonington, CT 06359. The amount should include postage and handling of $4.25 which will include a heavy-duty padded mailer for shipping. ($24.20 total) If you prefer to pay by Paypal, send $24.20 using the send to button to Revdma@aol.com.

Contents

1-2 Introduction

3-4 History of Oak Grove as described in the report of the Massachusetts

Historical Commission, Office of the Secretary, Boston

5-7 Oak Grove in More Recent Days

8-9 Relating to Oak Grove Cemetery and the Interment of the Dead Chapter XXII

City Ordinances 1859

10-16 1915 Report to the Board of Park Commissioners by Egbert Lawton

17-19 Mr. Egbert Lawton, Superintendent of Oak Grove

19 A-B Salaries of Early Superintendents and Expenses of Interest

20 Initial Expense Report 1856

21-22 Approved City Ordinance Applying to Oak Grove Cemetery

23-29 Symbolism on Victorian Funeral Statuary

30 Map for Tour Circuit #1

31-34 Autopsies of Abby & Andrew Borden, August 11, 1892

35 Funerals of Abby & Andrew Borden, August 6, 1892

36-39 Identifications and Biographies for Tour Circuit #1

40 Map for Tour Circuit #2

41-42 Identifications and Biographies for Tour Circuit #2

43 Map for Tour Circuit #3

44-46 Identifications and Biographies for Tour Circuit #3

47-49 Uncle Lawdwick Borden and the Sad Case of the Deaths in the Cistern:

The Suicide of Eliza Darling Borden and Murder of Her Children

50-55 Other Gravesites of Notables

56 Borden-Related Personalities Not Buried at Oak Grove Cemetery

57-63 The Victorian Celebration of Death: The Borden Funerals

64 Sources Used in the Preparation of This Publication

Filed under: Announcements, Borden Family Plot, Borden-Related Graves, Cemetery Structures, Civil War Monuments, Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Funeral History, Funeral Vocabulary, Granite Industry, Local Support, Mourning Art, Navigating Oak Grove, Oak Grove Notables, Oak Grove Tours and Events, Potpourri, The History of Oak Grove, The Victorian Way of Death Tagged: Shelley Dziedzic

New Year’s Twilight 2011

administrator — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 02:57:15 +0000

Photographs labeled WC were taken by Will Clawson, SD by Shelley Dziedzic on the Friday after New Year’s Day. The ground was particularly warm hitting the cold air, and a very theatrical misty effect was the result!

Filed under: Borden Family Plot, Cemetery Structures, Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Photo of the Week, Potpourri Tagged: Will Clawson

The Ivy Arch

administrator — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:43:14 +0000

There are several postcards of Oak Grove, made during the golden age of postcards from 1900-1920 when every prominent beauty spot and building or structure was fodder for the photographer’s camera. A penny postcard was the way to keep in touch with friends and family while traveling or on vacation and there are hundreds postcards of Fall River scenes available on Ebay and through dealers in ephemera.

The postcard above was postdated 1910 and shows ivy-covered walls and archway at Oak Grove. The ivy obscures the magnificent iron work of the gates as well as the inscription. There is a photograph of Oak Grove taken in 1890 which also shows the ivy growing on the gates, so it is likely this is how the Prospect Street entry looked at the time of the Borden funeral on August 6, 1892.

Below are two cards with no dates, showing the arch with and without ivy. All postcards shown here were purchased on Ebay.

Arch today:

Filed under: Borden Family Plot, Borden-Related Graves, Cemetery Structures, Oak Grove Postcards, Potpourri, The History of Oak Grove

Early Days at Oak Grove

administrator — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:24:10 +0000

It’s hard to know exactly the date of this photograph. The view is in front of the office building. Oxen were frequently used to haul the granite up to the cemetery on sledges. The arch was erected in 1873. To see the image at full size, click on the photo above. (photo courtesy of Oak Grove Cemetery).

Filed under: Cemetery Structures, Granite Industry, Photo of the Week, The History of Oak Grove

Oak Grove in Winter

administrator — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:00:04 +0000

(Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep sung by Ben Crawley, with Boys Choir Libera, text below)

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints in snow,
I am the sunlight and ripened grain.
I am the gentle Autumn rain.Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
When you awake in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.

The Ladies’ Comfort Station

administrator — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:44:13 +0000

For many years, the small, tiled-roof building directly opposite to the office inside the main gate was used as a lavatory and lounge for the lady visitors to the cemetery, and a convenience during funerals for attendees. Currently it is a break room for cemetery staff. It once had the dubious distinction of being the space where the grisly autopsies of Abby and Andrew Borden took place under the eye of medical examiner, Dr. Dolan, city doctor J.H. Leary, Clerk of autopsy, D.E. Cone, and Dr. F.W. Draper of Boston who was called in by Attorney General Albert Pillsbury.

The stained glass lancet windows have been broken and are currently boarded up, but the original deep wainscotting, moldings, and lavatory tiles with a Greek key pattern are still intact.

Click on thumbnails for enlargements of wainscotting and tile

Holding Tombs

administrator — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:27:59 +0000

Long before the backhoe, the six-foot deep hole for the coffin had to be dug by hand with pickaxe and shovel. In the nineteenth century, during the iron cold winters in New England, sometimes it was necessary to store the coffin until the January thaw or Spring when the frost was out of the ground. There are several of these Egyptian Revival style holding tombs which were built into hills or mounds, each containing shelving on either side of the interior to hold 6-8 coffins. Today this particular tomb houses lawn mowing equipment. This holding tomb, which is at the west side of the cemetery near the main entrance, housed the two coffins of Abby and Andrew Borden for a week while city medical examiner, Dr. Dolan, arranged for a complete autopsy on the bodies to be held at Oak Grove in the Ladies Comfort Station. It was there that the two skulls were removed and held for trial evidence on August 11, 1892.