Alene Pierro

Mount Hope Cemetery

The construction of Mount Hope cemetery in 1838 created the very first cemetery of it’s kind in the area. It is among the class of rural cemeteries created mostly from 1831 into the 1860s­ (1). These rural cemeteries were created on the outskirts of large cities, becoming tourist attractions, as well as, recreational spaces. Mount Auburn in Boston, Massachusetts was the first of these cemeteries in America and can be cited as a great influence to the construction of Mount Hope.

Mount Hope’s location was decided based upon a potential for growth and a comfortable distance from the city, as many blamed the graveyards for outbreaks of cholera that killed many.  It’s location and environment was also very important to the aesthetic success of the cemetery.  The Union and Advertiser described “…Mt. Hope (as) the most beautiful cemetery in the United States. It does not contain such costly monuments as Green Wood and Mount Auburn or those evidences of wealth which might be looked for in the burial places of the great cities… but in natural beauty, hill and valley, foliage elevation and surroundings… it has no rival.”

Mount Hope is 198-acres with monuments and mausoleums of all kinds. There are more than 375,000 graves and more than a third of a million people interned on site.

Clementine Alling

Clementine Lyman Tilden Alling was born October 24, 1928 in Rochester, Vermont and died October 24, 1905.  She was the widow of William Alling and left behind a son, Joseph Tilden Alling. Clementine died at the age of 77 years of “general bronchitis” (2). Below is the record of her internment. She is buried in section G and was interned on October 26, 1905 (3)

Clementine’s Gravestone

Clementine’s stone is quite ornate. It is in the shape of Celtic cross and on it is inscribed Isaiah chapter 60 verses 1 and 2. It reads, “Arise shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people. But the lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” Below it states “Clementine Tilden Alling, 1828 – 1905”.  It bears the message of hope in God, the redemption of the soul, because of Christ, and ideas of immortality in resurrection, the never-ending circle and ivy symbolic of fertility and nature (2).

Clementine’s stone stands strong with minimal deterioration. There are a few signs of wear, however, the integrity of the stone is strong. On Rahn’s Index for Weathering this stone is only slightly weathered (5). The stone is made of unpolished granite. It is easy to rule out limestone and sandstone, both too vulnerable to weathering to be this intact after 100 years. In looking closely at the stone you can see the granular aspect of the recrystallized carbonates, often calcite or dolomite (3).

There are three main arenas of deterioration or vulnerability seen on this stone. One vulnerability is seen in the uneven weathering. This is very slight and seen in two areas. There are impurities in the stone, such as clay, silt, or sand that create veins or areas of a different composition that can weather differently. The following images show small areas of difference in composition.

         Other areas of the stone are weathered. This is mostly seen in the rounding of corners on the stone. These are areas most vulnerable to wear. This is still very slight and not seen on every corner. 

         Environmental effects are the greatest cause of deterioration to stones (4). The greatest weathering on this stone is seen in its vulnerability to biological effects. The stone is, overall, in a great location. It is sheltered from most of the elements by many trees. It, therefore, has been protected from much direct precipitation and sunlight. It is also on the top of a hill, which protects it from pooling and sitting in collections of excess moisture after rainfall.

This is beneficial, but in it’s shelter from the sun, it has become a home to small amounts of biologics. The structure of the stone also makes it vulnerable; the intricacies of the carving are a perfect home for plant life.  Below are images of the moss that grows on the stone.

Citations

1) Linden-Ward, Blanche. Strange but Genteel Pleasure Grounds: Tourist and Leisure Uses of Nineteenth-Century Rural Cemeteries. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers. Logan, Utah. Utah State University Press. Print. 1992.

2) Willyard, Matthew. Field Reports from Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY.  University of Rochester. Web. 2004.

<http://hdl.handle.net/1802/272>

3.) Mount Hope and Riverside Cemetery Records. University of Rochester. Web.

<http://lib.rochester.edu/IN/RBSCP/Databases/IMAGES/MtHope/disc1/00000543.pdf>

4) A State of Decay. GravestonePreservation.info. Web. 2011.
<http://www.gravestonepreservation.info/state-decay>.

5) Gravestone Weathering. Connections.smsd.org/csi. Web. 2008.

        <connections.smsd.org/csi/GRAVESTONEWEATHERING.pdf>