Tag Archives: Bath National Cemetery

A Walk in the Cemetery

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Looking for a place to take a walk? Think about the cemetery. Cemeteries are quiet, they have roads to stroll on, you’re not scrambling out of traffic, the settings are usually pleasant, and you can do some bird watching at the same time, or maybe connect with history.

PLEASANT VALLEY CEMETERY outside Hammondsport goes back to the 1790s, but the star “attraction” is Glenn Curtiss. Until quite recently there were still people living who had attended Glenn’s burial in 1930, or taken part in the 10-plane flyover. He repeatedly pushed American aviation to higher levels than anyone expected, before dying at 52.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY in Caton has Steuben County’s first Civil War memorial, a short obelisk. BATH NATIONAL CEMETERY has a tall obelisk while NONDAGA in Bath has a monument and flagpole. There are Civil War statues at CLEARVIEW (North Cohocton) and HORNELL RURAL CEMETERY, and a Civil War cannon at HOPE (Campbell).

One section of Bath National is dedicated to 18 unknown soldiers from the War of 1812, found in Canada and reinterred with joint honors by both nations. Also while you’re at Bath National – look at all the religious and philosophical symbols now authorized on military headstones – a far cry from the formerly ubiquitous Roman cross, with an occasional Star of David thrown in.

WOODLAWN NATIONAL CEMETERY in Elmira is the resting place for many Confederate soldiers who died in the “Hellmira” prison camp. The civilian portion of Woodlawn includes the graves of Underground Railroad leader John Jones, Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis, and Samuel L. Clemens, whose gravestone measures two fathoms – Mark Twain.

ST. MARY’S CEMETERY in Corning includes a monumental arch that honors 19 men and boys, mostly glassworkers from Corning, killed in an Ohio train crash in 1891. HOPE CEMETERY ANNEX in Corning has a sweeping terraced space where members of the Houghton family are buried. (It looks at first like Albert Speer designed a Japanese garden, but it actually works.)

From Canisteo’s WOODLAWN CEMETERY you can enjoy the “living sign,” but scrounge around a little and you may find two stones inscribed “K.K.K.” a hundred years ago, by people who thought that joining the Ku Klux Klan was something to be proud of.

Within living memory sheep used to graze in PRATTSBURGH PIONEER CEMETERY, as a way of keeping the grass cut. PIONEER CEMETERY in Bath goes back to 1793, the first year of the community’s existence, when founder Charles Williamson buried his six year-old daughter who died of Genesee fever (probably malaria).

At TOWNSEND-ERWIN CEMETERY you can visit the gravestone of Benjamin Patterson (from Patterson Inn fame). But you’re not necessarily visiting “Hunter Patterson,” since the place has been flooded so often, and stones so often washed out of place, that nobody’s sure whether many of them are still where they started out. Even so, it’s a lovely setting.

The jewel of cemeteries for our region is, of course, 200-acre MOUNT HOPE in Rochester. It’s a good place to walk while you’re taking a break from visiting at Strong Hospital, or Highland Hospital. It’s the final resting place for luminaries such as freedom fighters Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, newspaper tycoon Frank Gannett, numerous Strongs, many Rochesters, Mr. Bausch AND Mr. Lomb, and Seth Green, the father of pisciculture.

Think about wandering your cemetery. It may help you find your place in the web of life.

At the National Cemetery: Emblems Old and New

I was taking a walk at the Bath National Cemetery, and I became intrigued by the symbols on the stones in the newer sections. The most common type was the one we generally expect to see – the Latin cross, with a short horizontal about a fourth of the way down a tall upright. It’s a basic Christian symbol, and in western European cultures (including ours) has come to be a sort of universally-recognized grave marker.
But, of course, not everyone is Christian, and so I’ve also been accustomed to seeing the Star of David from time to time on military grave markers. (For Jewish soldiers, in case you were wondering.)
Nowadays, though, 57 different emblems are in use. Some are denominational symbols within Christianity. There’s the United Methodist cross and flame, for instance. Lutherans have three to chose from… the Lutheran cross with a heart symbol, the Luther rose, and the Missouri Synod cross.
Quite a few of the approved emblems are actually variations on the familiar Latin cross. This goes for the Presbyterian symbol, and for the Presbyterian Church USA symbol, among others. The Armenian emblem, the Serbian Orthodox emblem, and two Celtic crosses fit in with our long experience. Some groups – U.C.C., C.M.A., Christian Reformed – make the cross part of a larger image. Messianic Judaism combines the cross with the Star of David. Russian Orthodoxy uses its own traditional three-bar cross.
But America, and America’s military personnel, are much bigger than that nowadays. Groups or movements with approved emblems for veterans’ cemeteries include Bahai (an eight-pointed star), Buddhism (the Buddhist wheel); the Native American Church (a teepee and other symbols); Mormonism (the familiar angel and trumpet); Hindu; Sikh; and Wiccan.
I had never heard the term Farohar, but correctly figured from the symbol that it was Zoroastrian.
Some groups, such as Eckankar and Sokka Gokkai, I knew only vaguely, while others were new to me entirely, at least by the terms and emblems here. Hammer of Thor is a Neopagan emblem, while Kohen Hands is an alternate Jewish symbol. The Sandhill Crane emblem, if I’ve got it right, symbolizes a close relationship with loved ones, rather than an organized faith. Certainly there’s nothing more out of place than a single sandhill crane. Does the Landing Eagle represent Eagle Spirituality?
Veterans or their loved ones can elect the Humanist symbol (a stylized H that forms a human being reaching high) or the Atheist symbol (the traditional atom depiction, with an A at the nucleus).
There are two symbols for Muslim veterans to choose from – a simple five-pointed star, or the familiar star-and-crescent.
Lest someone go into a swivet and start moaning that this is a CHRISTIAN country, and our traditional values are being destroyed, I dug out my 1959 Boy Scout Handbook. We horribly square Scouts in the Eisenhower years had three Religious Awards for various stripes of Protestant; one for Catholics; one for Jewish; one for Mormon; one for Eastern Orthodox; and one for Buddhist. Not long after publication we added two more: Religion in Life for Liberal Christianity, and In the Name of God, for Islam. Wanting my book to be complete, I sketched each of them in with the others on the religious awards pages.
There’s always been a lot more ethnic and religious variety in this country than many Americans have wanted to admit, even a handful of Muslims at the time of the Constitutional Convention (1787), and some 50 men from China who fought in the Civil War. And the trend has always been for MORE rather than LESS. Every year throughout our long history, we’ve been less homogeneous… or more diverse… than the year before. When someone volunteers for the military service of our country, which includes at least the POSSIBILITY of going in harm’s way, resenting their religious (or philosophical) emblem seems pretty small. We hold THAT truth to be self-evident.

A few of the currently-approved emblems.

A few of the currently-approved emblems.