Church Grounds Pieces

Fragments of broken stones in the Church Grounds section.  If you aren't following it already, please see my companion blog focusing on this historic area of the Rural Cemetery and the people buried there.

The Albany Church Grounds

Col. Lewis O. Morris

This stained and tilting marble gravestone stands in one of the most secluded corners of the South Ridge.  Located a few lots east of the large McIntyre plot, it is perched on a narrow hill which overlooks the old site of Consecration Lake.  In the distance, at the far left of the photo, there is a glimpse of the Witt crypt on the other side of a narrow ravine that splits off from the larger Moordanaers Kill ravine.

The front of this urn-topped monument features a shield-shaped tablet with a cross above it.  The top edge of the tablet is carved with a sword and tassels.  The inscription reads:  Col. Lewis O. Morris, U.S.A., Born Albany, N.Y. August 14, 1824.  Killed At Cold Harbor, VA, June 4, 1864.

If the name of this Civil War soldier seems familiar, it is because his father, Major Lewis M. Morris, was at Monterey during the Mexican War and was given one of the largest funerals in Albany's history.  The elder Morris lies buried on the Middle Ridge and his grave is marked by a magnificent brown sandstone monument. 

A Handful of Leaves

Dry leaves collect in the hands of an angel on the South Ridge near the edge of Moordanaers Kill.

Charles Calverley

Anyone who has strolled or driven through Washington Park has seen the handsome Robert Burns monument with its bronze statue of the Scottish poet and four plaques depicting scenes from his works.   The Burns memorial, one of the Park's landmarks, was created by Albany sculptor Charles Calverley.

Calverley was born in Albany in 1833 and, at the age of thirteen, he apprenticed to local stonecutter John Dixon.  Dixon's workshop produced a number of monuments for the Albany Rural Cemetery, including that of the Strain family and local publisher Jesse Buel, as well as architectural elements and marble mantels.

In 1853, Calverley's work in Dixon's shop caught the attention of Erastus Dow Palmer.  After seeing a rose carved by the twenty-year old, the sculptor bought out the remainder of Caverley's apprenticeship and brought him to work in his own studio.

In 1868, Calverley opened his own studio in Manhattan at Fourth Avenue and 25th Street.  Working in both marble and bronze, he created numerous busts, bas-reliefs, and medallions, with the occasional full-length statue or cameo.  He did several commissions for monuments in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, including busts Horace Greeley and Elias Howe.  Another well-known Calverley piece in Green-Wood is Precious Georgie, a touching marble portrait of a four-year old boy who died of scarlet fever.

In Albany Rural Cemetery, he also created Meditation, the exquisite bronze statue on the monument of Doctor Jephta Bouleware (see photo below) and a beautiful portrait medallion of Ann Elizabeth Brown Wiles.

Calverley died in 1914.  His family plot on the South Ridge contains four examples of his work.  The main monument is topped by a bronze bust of the sculptor (a self-portrait) and the bas-relief on the front is a likeness of his wife, Susan Hand.  Behind the main monument, a second granite monument contains medallions of the sculptor's mother and his brother, John, who died of illness while serving in the Civil War.

 

Below:  Detail of the Boulware monument: