The Confederate and Union veterans join in peace within the Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg, Virginia as their final resting place. This cemetery is a cultural landscape with gravestones that tell a story within the dates of those who died, their position within the space, and their carvings in creating their form. Ian Brown illustrates how a visitor of the cemetery can contextualize the gravestones using the standard dimensions of time, space, and form. A visitor might not fully know the history behind certain graves without prior research, but observing these three dimensions can provide clues in understanding context.
To further broaden this scope of contextualizing gravestone, James Deetz demonstrates three functions of artifacts and how one might identify an object’s purpose. A technomic object would function solely for a utilitarian purpose. Its focus is on how the artifact is structured and used within certain contexts. Sociotechnic strays away from the technological utility of the object and centralizes on how the object is used or displayed in a social environment. The ideo-technic artifact is one that serves a purpose in the ideological or religious contexts. Out of the three functions, ideo-technic is the one that would be used to describe a gravestone. Families and loved ones who are grieving a death, strive to preserve the soul of that individual and uphold their legacy through an ideo-technic artifact.
In continuation of these ideo-technic gravestones and how they stand as artifacts to preserve a soul, I was impressed with how well this cemetery was maintained in regard to the landscape. At first glance, the landscape looked well-kept and polished, just as it should be to memorialize these people. As I walked further throughout the cemetery, I came upon the gravestone of Ida Dale Howard. Her gravestone looked poorly preserved in the plant overgrowth encompassing it. It looked a bit neglected. After speaking with Dr. Christensen and researching a bit further on the foliage surrounding this gravestone, I came to find out that this overgrowth is common for this migrating plant, called a century or agave plant. They also are known to collect leaves and other greenery, which makes the space look crowded. Once I found out what plant this was, I was able to research and speculate the purpose of this plant with this gravestone.
"Gravestone of Ida Dale Howard, 1885-1923, Westview Cemetery, Blacksburg, VA, 2020"
The agave plant is known to have healing properties that might benefit the soul of this deceased person. In terms of the time period of this person’s life (September 9, 1885 – January 3 1923), I wonder when this plant would have been planted. The form of the gravestone is interesting to note because the carving reads “She is not dead but sleepeth”. Perhaps an agave plant is meant to manifest its healing properties for Ida’s soul as she sleeps? This question might be too speculative, but more contextual research would need to be conducted to gain a better understanding.
As I continued to weave throughout the rows of the cemetery, I was intrigued by the iconography of the gravestones and construction techniques. I particularly found this gravestone pictured below to have unique iconographic elements. The gravestone with “Mother” and “Father” written on the two mounds look like an open book. I perceived this with the ideo-technic point of view in that this open book-looking gravestone could symbolize the Bible or that the mother and father are opening their souls to Heaven.
"Gravestone of Julia and James Otey, 1865-1921 and 1862-1942, Westview Cemetery, Blacksburg, VA, 2020"
The lamb, pictured to the right, also follows the ideo-technic functionality in that the iconography of the lamb correlates to the “Lamb of God”. The infant or child who passed away is remembered through the symbolism of a lamb because of their pure innocence. Another theory is that, since sacrificial lambs are common in religious texts, the person who has a lamb on their grave could have made a sacrifice during their lifetime. For more information on the lamb symbolism, check out this link here.
"Gravestone of Unidentified Person, Unidentified Date, Westview Cemetery,
Blacksburg, VA, 2020"
The infant graves were the most disturbing to me. This family grouping caught my attention during my walk-through. The Thomas family endured five (from what I could see) deaths of their children. From what I understood, it was probably babies who were stillborn and therefore, did not have a birthdate or a death date. The pattern in which they are placed seemed odd to me. Four of the infant graves are positioned in an “L” shape to the left of Susan Thomas and the other infant Thomas is to the right of Lucretia Thomas. It appears this family is troubled with infant fatalities.
"Gravestones of the Thomas Family, early 1800s - early 1900s, Westview Cemetery, Blacksburg, VA, 2020"
I noted that these gravestones looked fairly refined and new in comparison to the other graves in this older section of the cemetery. Did the Thomas family members feel it was time for a standard upgrade or were the original graves naturally deteriorated beyond what was acceptable to their family’s standard? If so, it seems as if the Thomas family did not have enough information or didn’t know what else to put to memorialize Susan Thomas since her lasting legacy is being the “Wife of John M. Thomas”.
The cultural landscape at the Westview Cemetery is all-around surprising, intriguing and sometimes disturbing. I enjoyed learning a bit more about the history of Blacksburg through the lives of those who have passed.
Citations
Brown, Ian W. “The New England Cemetery as a Cultural Landscape,” in History from Things, ed. Steven Lubar and W. David Kingery, 140-59. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.
Deetz, James. 1977. In Small Things Forgotten: the Archaeology of Early American Life. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday.
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