Twenty years ago, Barbara Hanno began photographing gravestones in Petersham for the Cemetery Commission files, a project that is ongoing today.

Hanno said she began the project as ”I became charmed by the light reflections on old stones. One minute you could see nothing at all on a stone, and then if the sunlight changed, every inscription and every image might spring to life. That moment of springing to life fascinated me. So, I started photographing every gravestone in Petersham at its best moment for the Cemetery Commission files... and then expanded into other towns out of curiosity. Some people use mirrors to add the light, but I like to wait for the sun to catch the natural ambiance and mystery of the stone.”

Hanno will be sharing her knowledge of gravestones at a program entitled ”Carved in Stone: Local Early Gravestone Art and Artists” on Sept. 13, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Petersham Public Library. Hanno will present a slideshow of photos of local gravestones and identify their artists. Ken Levine, artist and lettering calligrapher, will also be at the event to show the tools and techniques used to make these stone artworks. Those attending will get to try using these tools as well. The event is sponsored by the Petersham Cemetery Commission and Petersham Historical Society.

Among the stones which fascinate Hanno are those from the 18th century.

“I concentrate on finding old gravestones from the 18th century because they have the most intrigue to me... I try to find the oldest burial grounds in each local town. I just visited one of the oldest burial grounds in Ware...All the gravestones I will talk about are from a radius around Petersham, mostly in Worcester County, some in Franklin County,” she stated.

”Many of the gravestone artists were local,” said Hanno. “Some local artists were the Soule family, who lived in Barre, Wendell, and Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and the Feltons of New Salem. Gravestone artists were generally family groups, as a father would teach a son, who would teach his son, etc.”

”Families handed down the craft from father to son and maybe daughters, although that is hard to authenticate,” Levine said. ”There are no mention of women stonecutters that exist in the historic record, but I know of at least two in current practice in Massachusetts and a father and daughter in Wales, Great Britain, in recent years,” he said.

“For people who study gravestones, our local artists are well-known,” Hanno said, “but not outside a selected group of scholars and amateurs. The Boston area and seacoast get the most of the attention for their gravestones because of the elaborate stones that wealth and prestige could produce,” she stated.

”Stone (for monuments) were either procured from local quarries or shipped from further away with suitable freight charges added, plus setting the stone in the ground,” said Levine. “Tools included flat steel wedges for splitting stone at the quarry, sometimes several with the grain, called feather wedges. Some quarrymen used gunpowder for this purpose.”

“In the 18th century, most stones hold images of what we call ‘soul effigies.’ Most people think they are angels, but they weren’t considered angels at the time. I will just be talking about 18th century images,” Hanno said. “They represent the spirit as it transforms into a glorious state. After the 1800s, urn and willow designs took over, then later, just plain marble was popular. Granite has taken over recently. Symbols were used in the later stones, such as anchors, signifying safety for the soul, crosses signifying Christianity, doves signifying flight, etc.”

”A good stonecutter could probably cut about 80 letters in a day. Decorations might be precut and available for purchase and inscriptions added later. For inscriptions, smaller chisels and a mallet called a dummy were used for letters and decorations. A full memorial with decorations might take a week,” Levine stated.

As for those souls buried in the cemeteries, Hanno said, “there are many Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers, known mostly to their townspeople. The well-known historian, John Fiske, is buried in Petersham. Of course, there are the infamous ones, but let’s let those unfortunate people rest in peace.”

The most poignant stones Hanno sees are the children’s stones.

“I always find the stones for children touching. There are stones that tell of several children in one family passing away in a short time, such as in an epidemic. It teaches us that Covid is nothing new and how precious life is. There are stones like this in Winchendon and Templeton, for example,” she stated.

Among the stones which will be part of Hanno’s slideshow will include stones from Center Cemetery in Petersham as well as those in Hardwick, New Salem, the Brookfields, Lancaster, Harvard, Athol, Barre, Ware, Westminster, Princeton, Paxton, Rutland, Royalston and Fitchburg.

“I’m looking mainly at the Worcester County area right now,” she said.

”It’s hard to say what is the oldest local cemetery,” she continued. “Many people were probably buried in early burial grounds with no marker or just unmarked fieldstones. The oldest visible gravestone in Petersham is 1749. Some of the towns that were established earlier, like Rutland, have some older stones.”

“The winter and stormy weather can be hard on gravestones. Plus, the ancient ages of some of them is a factor is their decline.As far as I know, it is up to the towns to decide how they will fund and maintain their burial grounds,” Hanno stated. “As for help, I have heard that different organizations have been known to offer grants, like the Daughters of the American Revolution. Massachusetts has Community Preservation Act funds, which require meeting their criteria.”

Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.

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