While visiting Maplewood Cemetery in Durham NC working on a findagrave.com request with my folks, I stumbled across a GEM of a cemetery. After fulfilling the requests, we kept driving through this cemetery, which never seemed to end!
I'm a big fan off surrogate mourners, what I call statues of grieving women that stand as beautiful monuments to the dead. They are there to mourn for the loved one when the family isn't. Maplewood had FINE examples of surrogate mourners, as you can see in the post. At the plot for Julian Carr (a shout out to all you fine residents of Carrboro, NC) there were 3 beautiful statues. One was an angel kneeling, and on the back of her wings were 2 beautiful poems. I'll go back and transcribe them for all of you soon.
Julian Carr, October 12, 1845-April 29, 1924, was an industrialist and philanthropist from North Carolina. He also served as a Private in the Confederate States of America. Instrumental in the founding of Duke University, the town of Carrboro was named in his honor after agreeing to extend electricity to what was then known as West End. He and his family lay in eternal rest at Maplewood Cemetery. (source: Wikipedia)
While driving through this cemetery, I thought I caught a glimpse of a statue of a dog (which I have seen before at Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, AL). I looked closer and realized that there were 4 DOGS (not graveyard rabbits) laying in the shade... they took off..and began to explore on their own!
At Maplewood Cemetery, it's somehow soothing to know that these surrogate mourners are forever present at this grave. Be on the look out for new posts for tombstone Tuesday... I have some good shots of the grave of Washington Duke and others! Enjoy your weekend! Thanks to my mom and dad for exploring with me!
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