Virtual Tours - Historic Northampton Museum and Education Center

Bridge Street Cemetery
Northampton Architecture
Historic Markers

Gravestone Art

This 1690 headstone is among the oldest in the Bridge Street Cemetery.

In the Connecticut valley less than 100 gravemarkers from before 1700 survive. This is because very few people, generally only well-to-do white men, could be buried in marked stone graves. Among the oldest surviving stones in the Bridge Street Cemetery is that of Lieutenant John Lyman who died at age 66 in 1690. It is a good example of a simple headstone, showing only the deceased's name, age, and date of death. The lack of decoration on 17th century graves was not a result of a lack of material or a lack of trained cutters, but rather the Puritan objections to imagery. Stonecutters were local artisans, who didcutting as a side job, but were formally trained under a master cutter. Sandstone, the material of choice in the Bridge Street Cemetery, was cheap, in great abundance, and local. It was quarried at Mount Tom.

For Puritans, the death’s head on tombstones came to represent the transitory nature of earthly life.

It was not until the 1720’s that images such as the winged death’s head began to appear in Bridge Street. An example of this style would be Aaron Mirick’s gravestone from 1734. The death’s head symbolized the certainty and triumph of death, as well as God’s judgment of sin.

Symbolizing mourning, the willow and urn adorn this 1790 slate gravestone.

At the beginning of the 19th century, marble became a popular material because of its neoclassical associations. Neoclassical designs such as the urn, the willow tree and columns became popular motifs. By the 1820's design had become increasingly stylized and standardized. Mass produced headstones increasingly replaced the craftsmanship and art of the stonecutter. The graveyard itself became standardized as it was divided into identical plots and grids. By the 20th century, markers and headstones resembled those in cemeteries all over America.

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