For thousands of years, symbols have been carved on cave walls, formed into religious icons, and etched onto buildings and monuments. They provide a visual representation of personal sentiments and cultural values. They were added to tombstones, too, providing some insights into the lives of the departed.
In the United States, Puritans included icons that were far from uplifting in their graveyards: death’s heads, skulls and crossbones, and scythes. All were reminders of earthly mortality—and sharp nudges to the living to have chaste, faithful lives.
Later Colonial graves expanded icons to include willow trees, flowers and subtle religious imagery, meant to offer comfort and a more pleasant view of death.
Throughout the 19th century, though, Victorians used a more-secret language in cemetery icons. Symbols told stories and reflected sentimentality, a…
