Imagery and Symbolism of Old Headstones — Lost Souls Of New England

Part of our love for old graveyards are the physical headstones with their intricate designs and precise detailing. Hailing from a time long since passed, stones from even the 1600s still hold up today to display their beauty despite hundreds of years of constant weathering from New England’s 4 seasons. These stones represent some of the last untouched monuments of history from old America, and give us a window into the beliefs and culture of these early puritans.

Contrary to popular belief, Early Americans were actually adverse to attributing death rituals to god and religion. The viewed it outside of the godly realm. However, the imagery used on certain headstones still had a spiritual tone to it. For much of the late 17th century going into the mid 18th century, “Death Heads” were prominent images amongst headstones. Death Heads were skulls engraved into the top of headstones, sometimes with crossbones or with wings. We should look at these images like “soul effigies” instead of angels. Death was supposed to be looked at as a moment to acknowledge its inevitability. Living conditions were rough and lifespans were much shorter during this time, so death was all around at all times no matter what age. Hence why these illustrations were so rough and visceral in their design structure. It was a teachable moment, that death comes to us all. You may have seen the words “momento mori’ engraved into old headstones of this time period. Those words directly translate to “remember death”.

From the mid 18th century until the early 19th century, death heads began to take a different form. Instead of the harsh looking skull-like figures, faces started to look more human like, and softer in nature. This directly reflected the way that people were starting to view death and the afterlife. Another form of symbolism that started to appear in the visual sense was the willow tree and urn. Willow trees were looked upon as symbols for mourning and suffering a great loss. Urns were looked at in the same light, and both of these symbols had represented death for centuries in different cultures around the world. When we see artwork like this on headstones, it is apparent that people started trying to go away from this harsh viewpoint of life and death, and tried to celebrate the afterlife instead of warning us about its inevitability.