Learning from the Grave (Lesson Plan)

• Students should be given ample opportunity to discuss cemeteries at the beginning of the unit. People often have profound feelings about cemeteries, ranging from fear or morbid fascination
  to peace or depression, and students need to express these feelings freely. For some, the feelings might be better expressed in writing.
• Check out books about cemeteries and gravestones for students to use. The teacher can also have some chosen websites for students to explore for a general overview of the types of
  cemeteries and markers that can be found.
• Discussion should include the fact that gravestones can be primary sources. While not written on paper, they, nonetheless, contain contemporary written information. Discuss the types of information found in a cemetery. Why is this information important?

• The teacher might want to create a slide show or PowerPoint presentation of local cemeteries and examples of gravestones.
• Choose a deceased famous person that means something to you. Find out where the person is buried and using some of the sources given here, look at the gravestone (or lack thereof). Write
  an essay about the final resting place of this person. Do you feel that it is appropriate? Is it unexpected? Do they have an epitaph? Is it appropriate? Could you create a better one?
• Visit a local cemetery. Use the attached Cemetery Scavenger Hunt to seriously study the cemetery and its gravestones.
• Do an in-depth inventory of at least ten markers. Use the attached inventory sheet.
• Use the attached poster, copied from records at the North Carolina State Archives, to discuss the changes in grave markers over time. Early in America, markers often looked like those on the
  poster but gradually became more varied. What are they like now?

• Create a poem about a graveyard or one of the gravestones.
• Create your own epitaph and/or design your own tombstone.
• Survey and record the information in a small cemetery and send the attached form to the address listed on it for inclusion in the cemetery records maintained by the State Archives.
• Choose one stone in a cemetery that interests you. Do some research on the person buried there and write a short biography of that person.
• Write an essay about the media’s treatment of cemeteries and how that might affect people’s perception of them.
• Using the worksheet on symbolism, draw or photograph five gravestones and describe the symbolism of the artwork.

Cemetery Websites

“Reading Hebrew Tombstones” at http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/tombstones.html 
www.findagrave.com
www.gravestoneconservation.com (commercial site)
www.gravestonestudies.org
www.gencem.org
www.africanamericancemeteries.com/
www.thecemeteryclub.com
www.primaryresearch.org/Gravestones/index.php
www.msp.umb.edu/LocHistoryTemplates/MSPCemeteries.html
www.interment.net
www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/84mountauburn/84mountauburn.htm
www.oakdalecemetery.org
www.gravematter.com
www.arlingtoncemetery.net

Cemetery Books

• Arbeiter, Jean and Linda D. Cirino. Permanent Addresses: A Guide to the Resting Places of Famous Americans. NY: M. Evans and Co., Inc., 1983.
• Helsley, Alexia Jones. Silent Cities: Cemeteries and Classrooms. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1997.
• Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. NY: MJF Books, 2004.
• King, Henry. Tar Heel Tombstones and the Tales They Tell. Asheboro, NC: Down Home Press, 1990.
• Little, Ruth M. Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
• Meyer, Richard E., ed. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1989.
• Purser, Charles E., compiler. A Story Behind Every Stone: The Confederate Section of Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, North Carolina. Wake Forest, NC: 2005.
• Reed, J. D. and Maddy Miller. Stairway to Heaven: The Final Resting Places of Rock’s Legends. NY: Wenner Books, 2005.
• Sloane, David Charles. The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
• Solomon, Jack and Olivia. Gone Home: Southern Folk Gravestone Art. Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2004.
• Strangstad, Lynette. A Gravestone Preservation Primer. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 1998.

Consort: a living spouse
Relic: a widow or sometimes a widower
Wife: can be living or dead
Tomb: a chamber for the burial of the dead
Table tomb: tomb that looks like a stone table
Chest tomb: tomb shaped like a trunk
Hip tomb: tomb shaped like a small, low house with a hip roof
Mausoleum: a large, stately tomb
Epitaph: inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there
Obelisk: a tall, four-sided shaft of stone, usually tapered, monolithic and rising to a point
Headstone: a stone set at the head of a grave, often larger & more ornate than the footstone
Footstone: a stone set at the foot of a grave
Gravestone: a stone that marks a grave
Cemetery: a place for burying the dead
Plot: a small piece of ground
Inter: to bury a dead body in the grave
Urn: a vase usually with a footed base or pedestal
Garden pieces: furniture such as benches, tables, bird baths, fountains, and urns
Sarcophagus: a stone coffin, often inscribed or decorated, modern ones usually do not hold a body; the body is usually in a vault beneath it
Potter’s field: a place where unknown people are buried

Anchor: Hope, mariner’s symbol
Angel, flying: Rebirth
Angel, trumpeting: call to the Resurrection
Angel, weeping: grief
Arch: Victory of life or victory in death
Arrow: Mortality
Bird: Eternal life
Birds in flight: Flight of the soul
Breasts (also gourds, pomegranates): The church, ministry, nourishment of the soul
Candle flame: Life
Column, broken: Death
Columns, doors: Heavenly entrance
Crown: Glory of life after death
Dove: Purity, devotion
Figs, pineapples, other fruits: Prosperity, eternal life
Flower: Frailty of life
Flower, severed blossom: Mortality
Garland: Victory
Hand, pointing: Heavenly reward
Heart: Love, mortality, love of God, abode of the soul
Hourglass: Time’s inevitable passing
Lamb: Innocence
Lily: White, Madonna
Pall (cloth covering coffin), pick, spade: Mortality
Palm: Victory over death
Rooster: Awakening, the Resurrection
Rose: Beauty, perfection
Scythe: Death, the divine harvest
Shell: The Resurrection and life everlasting
Skull, death head: Mortality
Sun setting: Death
Sun shining or rising: Renewed life
Thistle: Of Scottish descent
Tree: Life
Tree, severed branch: Mortality
Tree, sprouting: Life everlasting
Vine: The sacraments, general symbol of Christian faith
Weeping willow tree: Nature’s lament
Winged face: Effigy of the soul of the deceased, soul in flight
Wreath: Victory
Wreath worn by a skull: Victory of death over life
Wheat sheaves: The divine harvest

Skills to be gained during this field trip are:

• Reading maps
• Following directions
• Drawing maps
• Learning the etiquette of visiting a cemetery
• Identifying symbols on tombstones
• Learning local history

Visit the cemetery before the field trip and know exactly where you and the students will go.

Speak with the authorities before the visit about any rules and regulations that should be followed while in the cemetery.

Provide maps of the cemetery or the area of the cemetery that you will be visiting.

Have adequate adult supervision, preferably one adult for each 6 to 8 students.

Know the students you are taking: Have any students recently suffered a death in their family? Are any especially sensitive about cemeteries? It may be a good idea to send out a letter or survey to parents and guardians before the trip in case they have an objection to their child going on the trip.

Prepare the class by discussing rules and regulations, any fears the students may have, and what they should wear.

Make sure there is an opportunity for a bathroom break and adequate water for the students.

Be aware of any health concerns among the students such as allergies to bees or plants, inability to walk long distances or over uneven terrain.

Be cognizant of the possibility of snakes, ticks and/or chiggers being present.

Leave the cemetery as, or better than, you found it.

Do not do rubbings of stones or allow students to sit or lean on the stones as many of them may be unstable.

Call just before going to make sure that a burial will not be taking place while you are there.

Allow at least two hours for the activities in the cemetery.

Make sure that students have supplies that they need to do their work, i.e. worksheets, clipboards, pencils, erasers, camera, etc.

• Name of deceased:
• Birth & death dates:
• Epitaph:
• Gravestone appearance:
• Drawing:
• Lettering condition:
  • Clear
  • Faded
  • Hard to read
  • Very hard to read
• Design, symbols or decoration:
• Material made of:
  • Wood 
  • Granite 
  • Limestone 
  • Marble 
  • Slate 
  • Other:
• Information about the deceased (copy any information from the gravestone):
• Family relationship:
• Veteran:
• Occupation:
• Member of fraternal or religious organization:

Students should look first at the cemetery as a whole. They should give a description of the cemetery.

Questions to be considered are:

• Is it orderly or do the tombstones seem to be randomly placed?
• Are there plots for families or are people placed in rows of unrelated stones?
• Is vegetation interfering in any way with the cemetery or the individual tombstones?
• Are there obvious signs of vandalism?
• Do you feel that this cemetery is valued by a family or community?
• Does the cemetery appear to be a wildlife refuge?
• Why might this location have been chosen for the cemetery?
• Where is the cemetery in relation to town? How do you “feel” here (scary, creepy, peaceful, intrigued)?
• What month or season has more births?
• What month or season has more deaths?
• Do you see evidence of an epidemic or widespread tragedy in the cemetery?
• Do you see more stones for people dying before or after the age of 20?
• For how many different wars are there veterans represented in the cemetery?
• Are there any famous people buried in the cemetery?
• Are there obvious signs of wealth in some of the markers?
• What metaphors for death do you see on the stones?
• Are there geometric shapes in the cemetery? Name at least 5.
• Are there any interesting epitaphs? What makes them interesting?
• Do you see certain types of plants in the cemetery?

Using a group of ten gravestones, determine the ratio of males to females and children to adults.

Make a graph of the ages of death of individuals on at least ten gravestones.

Tombstone Tour

Look very carefully at the section of the cemetery that has been assigned to you. Draw a map of the area that shows where each stone is positioned, compared to each other stone:

• Does their position suggest a relationship?
• Where is the sun in relation to each stone?
• Does one type of stone appeal to you such as the ones with animals or angels on them, children’s stones?
• Draw or photograph one or several of these stones and explain why you like that particular stone or that type of stone.

Observe the time frame represented by the markers:

• Can you see differences in the markers over time?
• What changes have occurred?
• Is there a motif or epitaph that was used on early stones but not on later ones?
• Are there plants or types of that are threatening the gravestones?
• Do you see particular signs of weathering on the gravestones?