TAKIN BETZ: DAY 50 - ETERNAL HOPE

Once you are dead, will anyone remember you?

Will your grandchildren or great-grandchildren know who you are?

Life’s accomplishments can dissipate even before we do …. -- degrees and awards, careers and pursuits. Paper grows brittle, no one writes who we are on the back of the old faded photos. Our blogs are only a hosting payment from oblivion.

For the stone carvers of Barre, Vermont .... the GRANITE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD .. immortality is a work of art. Barre is adjacent to Montpelier, the state capital, in the center of the state. It was settled in the 18th century and is surrounded by granite quarries and agriculture.

Rock of Ages is the world's largest granite quarry and is internationally known for its high quality of stone and artistry. Gray granite has been used since the late 1700's and Barre is the perfect location for work on monuments due to the coloring and texture of the granite.

Most of the granite for America's headstones comes from this part of Vermont. The master artisans of Barre, many Italians who immigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, worked the Barre Gray granite blocks into poignant memorial designs. Many of these artisans are buried here in Hope Cemetery.

Hope Cemetery established in 1895 originally contained 53 acres and now has 85 acres. Edward P. Adams, a nationally known landscape architect, created the original plan.

There are over 10,000 monuments made of Barre Gray granite. These monuments are a work of art. This is truly an art gallery, a sculpture garden in a very unusual, functional setting.

Granite sentries stand on each side of the gate as you enter.

Upon entering the cemetery, I just started darting from memorial to memorial snapping pictures of the beautiful carvings and artwork. Dave was driving around and kept coming back saying, "You're missing the good stuff!"

A LOVER OF BIRDS, OR PERHAPS A HUNTER?

A tractor trailer truck as a last reminder of a man named Galfetti.

A bi-plane banks on its way to Cloud Nine.

A weeping angel keeping watch.

A WELL DRILLER.........

A lover of cats, perhaps?

Hobbies of the dead are remembered, with a soccer ball, a relief of an older man on a motorcycle, a baseball player.

John died young, before his 20th birthday. He must have been quite an athlete.

A mountain home, wife in the distance and riding his motorcycle. What more could you want!

A half-szie replica of race car #61 celebrates local driver Joey Laquerre Jr who died in a 1991 snowmobile accident.

I found this one interesting. First they must be hikers and golfers. Second, they haven't died yet ... they are younger than we are. Guess they are getting ready for when the time comes and have it all figured out!!! It is the 18th hole and they are backpacking off into the sunset!

FLY FISHING AT THE BASE OF THE FALLS IN THE OPEN STREAMS WITH THEIR DOG.

A LOVER OF MUSIC

William and Gwendolyn Halvosa sitting up in pajamas, holding hands, their tombs stretched out before them as beds. No doubt, preparing for what will be a very long night of sleep. “Set me as a seal upon thine heart for love is strong as death” .. Song of Solomon 8:6

Brusa’s grave is callee “The Dying Man” slipping away, held by his wife. Brusa passed away in 1937 to a common stone carver’s ailment, Silicosis, from a lifetime of breathing in airborne stone particles.

Elia Corti (man carved sitting down) is one of the most fascinating stones of all. It was cut from a single piece of granite by the brother of the deceased. The hand carved life size figure sits quietly contemplative of an eternity to come.

The Bored Angel, work of Lois Brusa, rests between columns, legs crossed and head balanced on her chin. as if she's thinking: "C'mon -- die already!"

The most “ghostly” of all is Giuseppe Donati’s stone, raised relief depicting a soldier smoking a cigarette while the face of his wife or person close to him gloats in a wisp of smoke.