Travels with Auntie M: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

In 1836 John Jay Smith, a Quaker, designed Laurel Hill as a picturesque cemetery to be a permanent, non-sectarian burial space which would also accommodate the needs of the living. Consisting of 78 acres on a hill, running along the Schuylkill River it is a testament to Victorian times, when people strolled, took carriage rides and held picnics in the cemetery as if it were Central Park (which was built 20 years later). The first sight to greet visitors, up a short flight of stairs is a small three wall structure with these unusually sculptures.

They depict Sir Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. Scott, the one with the cane leaning against a headstone, is conversing with Old Man Mortality perched on top of a stone coffin. Why a pony and a bust of James Thom are listening in, is a mystery to me.

The above angel is one of the few who still has all her digits; unfortunately most of them show signs of vandalism, like the angel below.

Then there were many statues with severe erosion.

I was amazed at the number of obelisks in this cemetery.

Memorial to General Hugh Mercer, a Scotsman who served as a surgeon in the Jacobite army at the Battle of Culloden and later as brigadier general in the Continental Army.