Oakwood Cemetery

Today we visited the Oakwood cemetery which is located in Troy. Our tour to the Opulent Gardner Earl Memorial chapel in the cemetery was unexpectedly canceled due to a funeral. Even though it was raining and the chapel tour was canceled, we went around the cemetery and looked at some of the iconography.

The iconography that intrigued me the most was the woman holding a horn. As the picture above shows, the woman is wearing a long dress and is looking up. I did some research on this iconography but I could not find any information about the specific sculpture. However, the Oakwood cemetery website provided me with some general information about the cemetery iconography. The website imparts that rural cemeteries were outdoor museums of very famous sculptors. Thus, the woman in this iconography might have just been the work of a well-known sculptor. The website also conveys that objects like laurel wreaths, anchors, hearts and others symbolize love, respect and honor for the departed. The horn might have been implied in this list. Consequently, the iconography in the picture might have been constructed to honor the departed.

As we walked around the cemetery, professor Mussial told us about the crematorium which was where many dead people were burned and converted into ashes. Many people use cremation because it was cheaper. The picture above shows some of the urns that contain the ashes. I took this picture in the attic of the chapel. Katie mentioned in the van that many people convert the ashes of dead people into diamonds. As a result, one could wear a diamond ring made out of someone. Even though it sounds very strange, I would not mind convert the ashes of a love one into a diamond. I would not wear the diamond though, because I would be too scared to lose it. I was shocked when professor Mussial said that in the old days people picnicked in cemeteries. He also mentioned that the Oakwood cemetery was one of the actual famous garden cemeteries where people picnicked.  I could never have a picnic next to the grave of someone who passed away. Doing so will make me feel that I am doing something wrong even though it was done years ago by other people. Somehow, I find picnicking at a cemetery disrespectful since you are taking the private space of someone who is dead. Even though those people are died, they deserved the space that was granted to them by their families or friends. By picnicking in a cemetery, we will be disturbing the space of the dead.

Russell Sage Mausoleum

I was very glad that we were able to see the graves of people who were very influential in the community of Troy. One of them for instance was Henry Burden who initiated the early steps of industrialization in troy. It was nice being in the workplace where Henry Burden made his creations such as the waterwheel and the horseshoe machine. It was also very nice to see where he was buried. I was not able to take a picture of his grave because it was raining. I paid attention to the mausoleum that houses his coffin. The mausoleum did not have any outstanding design, however it seemed to me a very big one. Russell Sage’s mausoleum also seemed very big but it did not have an outstanding design either. As the picture above shows, the Russell Sage’s mausoleum has classic Greek columns and its ruff is triangular. It remained me to the houses that I used to draw when I was a little kid. Russell Sage’s mausoleum might not have seemed outstanding to me. However, I beg that by the time it was constructed it was very outstanding since the Greek style was being incorporated in American architecture.

Pond

The picture above shows the cemetery pond. At first sight, it seemed to me that it was contaminated. However, this was not the case. The pond actually was over nourished due to the nutrients that come from the corpses. Once the corpses decompose, their nutrients pass through the coffins and make their way to the pond. I was very fascinated by this fact since I never heard of it before.Even though cemeteries are a great way to honor the departed, they often disturb the environment. For instance, the Oakwood cemetery is a very large rural cemetery. This means that it is occupying space where trees could grow. In addition, when the cemetery was built probably a whole ecosystem was disturbed which is not good for the wellbeing of the earth. A large cemetery as Oakwood is definitely limiting space for trees and disturbing the environment around it.