Pleasant Bethel Cemetery

Happy Halloween!

It's Spooky Day!   I hope you have something wonderfully fun planned for this evening.   We are going to snuggle up with a fun movie [The Ghost and Mr. Chicken] and a bowl full of chocolate. 

In the grand Halloween tradition of the blog, I bring you another wonderful rural cemetery.   This one is located between Freedom and Worthington, Indiana - off Highway 231 a few miles down Pleasant Bethel Rd. 

It's across the street from an old white church and it's nestled between corn fields and woods.   It's peaceful and beautiful there.

This year I noticed the wonderful types of carvings on the stones here.   I loved the stylized carving on the granite stones. 

The were several examples of art deco type carvings, like the corners of the John and Clara Nation stone.

The Mitten family area had many beautiful stones.  I loved Ella Mitten's stone.   Notice the anchor.   According to this site, anchors are often used in places where sailing is common.  That is not the case in southern Indiana, so it must mean something else.  Anchors are also symbols for steadfastness and that is most likely the meaning here.

This is the stone of Gracie Mitten.   Notice the gates on this stone and the stone above.   These are the Pearly Gates - the gates of heaven.  Open to allow the person in. 

I loved the simple carving on John C. Mitten's stone.   I saw the flower on several stones from the Mitten family.

This is the Colenbaugh stone.   I think those are stylized weeping willows - or perhaps columns? - just above the names.   I couldn't find any information on them.  

I love finding stones like these.  Notice Sarah's dates.

She was born Nov. 16, 1848, but she never died.   A perfect Halloween grave!   She'll be 166 years old in a couple of weeks.  

And speaking of the undead.   I found a couple more old stones with names of the undead.

Here is Josiah Trent's stone.   He was born February 7, 1828.  Apparently, he didn't die.   He's 186 this year.  

This is John Wesley Workman and Cristine C. Workman's stone.   Cristine was born on my birthday [July 16] in 1835.   No death date.  I hope this means that July 16th is a lucky date and I'll rocking the country life forever.  Or at least for 179 years or so.

Stacked log headstones are often markers of the graves of men who belonged to the Woodmen of the World fraternal organization.   Those graves usually have an axe carved on them, too.   I didn't find an axe on this marker, so I'm not sure if the stacked logs are symbolic or not. 

This site has a lot of information about the WoW grave markers.  See what you think.

And speaking of logs and wood, in almost every old cemetery out here, you'll find a marker like this one.   A carved tree trunk with broken limbs.    The symbolism is of a life cut short.   The carvings are marvelous and painstaking. 

This is Charles Dyer's stone.  He died in 1893. He was 23 years old when he died.   So sad.  

Someone clearly loved and missed him very much. 
There are ferns carved at the bottom of back of the tree and ivy climbing up and through the broken shield.   There's a lily at the bottom in the front. 

[But there's no axe.]  

There is a verse carved in a curve on the shield, but it's so worn that I can't read it at all.  Blow up the pic and do your best.


I hope you enjoyed this year's spooky cemetery tour.   If you want more, then here are previous years' tours.

2013 - Tulip Cemetery
2012 - Solsberry Cemetery
2011 - Philpot Cemetery