UNION SPRINGS - Taken at face value, grave markers tell the simple facts about a life - a person's name, the years they lived, perhaps the names of their spouse or children, but looked at another level, there is a wealth of information these monuments offer.

On Wednesday evening, Owasco town historian Laurel Auchampaugh spoke and presented a slide show she worked on in conjunction with her daughter Lynne Stenberg's title “The Art & Symbolism of Tombstone Carving.”

“And she has assured me that after tonight none of us will look at tombstones the same way again.”

Auchampaugh said she was interested in history and family history from an early age, which in turn led to an interest in gravesites.

“My father must have known,” Auchampaugh said. “Of the five children he took me to the cemetery with him. I was the one that wanted to know where family members were buried. And I think he taught me well.”

Auchampaugh said this was one of the first important aspects of memorial stones; they are a means to remember and relate stories to the next generation.

“There is always someone who will be interested,” Auchampaugh said. “There will always be someone who wants to know these family stories and it is important to preserve them.”

Auchampaugh and her daughter visited many cemeteries throughout Cayuga County; along the way they photographed and catalogued their findings.

At first they were both struck by the evolution of cemeteries. Auchampaugh said earlier cemeteries have a stark simplicity, with simple gates and fences and in Quaker cemeteries, just plain white stones without names.

“It wasn't until 1842 that Quakers were allowed to write names on the stones,” Auchampaugh said. “Until then there are little or no names in their cemeteries.”

It was during the Victorian era that cemeteries took on the larger park-like image that many such as Fort Hill have today. It was also during this time the trend to put a cemetery on a hill began.

“It was donated land,” Auchampaugh said. “On a hill nothing will grow and these are often thought to be the sites of Indian burial mounds, and on a hill it is closer to God. It was during this period that people started to go to the cemetery and they would bring a picnic lunch and they became more like parks with benches and quiet places to sit and reflect.”

Auchampaugh said for many years there was a tendency to create family plots in a circle, based around the Gospel song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”

Auchampaugh looks at each headstone in detail to find its meaning.

For example, she said there are obvious symbols such as crosses or other religious iconography that indicates a person's faith.

But set within the stones, there are often other clues as to the specifics of the person's life. Auchampaugh said symbols such as willows and roses are common.

“A willow, everybody knows a willow,” she said.

“The weeping willow, but often it will show the number of people left behind. The same with a rose, there will be a cut in the rose, for the person who passed away and then there will be leaves for the people left behind.”

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Did you know that Laurel Auchampaugh writes a monthly a column in The Citizen. You can read her and roughly 80 other community columnists throughout a given month in the Lake Life section.