 |
Grave of Daniel Chester French | |
| The grave of the great American sculptor Daniel Chester French lies in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord MA, just around the corner from his poignant Melvin Memorial. | ||
|
|
|
Daniel Chester French's grave in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (map) is a simple stone slab inscribed with his name and dates, and decorated only with a plain garland of leaves in stone. Visitors drop coins in the center of the wreath to mark their visits. It's ironic that the great sculptor has such a simple tomb when in life he created such memorable memorials to others: — The "Mourning Victory" of the Melvin Memorial in Sleepy Hollow, a touching tribute to three Concord brothers who fought and died in the Civil War — The marble statue of Ralph Waldo Emerson that graces the main room in the Concord Free Public Library — "The Minute Man" at Concord's North Bridge — The "Seated Lincoln" in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. In fact, the Lincoln Memorial may be the reason for the pennies. As NETP visitor Carol Purinton suggests, visitors leave pennies, reverse side up, in memory of French's great "Seated Lincoln," because the Lincoln Memorial is depicted on the back of the penny. What a fitting tribute! (Carol also mentions that if you leave a Massachusetts quarter (25¢) depicting French's Concord Minuteman statue on the reverse, the quarter will disappear in a pretty short time.) For a look at Daniel Chester French's life, visit his home and studio at Chesterwood at Stockbridge in Massachusetts's Berkshire Hills. —by Tom Brosnahan
|
|
Above, the simple
tomb of Daniel
Chester French, with pennies left
by visitors filling the stone wreath.
|
