Navigation Practice in an upstate N.Y. Rural Cemetery. Sculpture, solitude and navigation tactics on the ridge above above an 1840s iron and steel boomtown.
This is part three of a set of practice sessions in another of the Rural Cemeteries. I make an initial foray then learn as much as possible from maps and internet recon. This time I use Ranger pacing beads along with the compass and gps.
This cemetery is known to be haunted.
Previously...
Part 2 :
Part 1:
On the third visit I rolled in with a fairly free form style! To stay oriented I used the city of Troy and the far banks of the Hudson/Mohawk and later the lights of the city of Troy as an indication of West. For the Eastern side I used the hill rise of the ridge the cemetery sits on; it climbs to the East.
The more Eastern track marks my path in; I climbed the hill and headed to the East first.
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I also used the lake, the ravine, the draw ( a ravine with a gently slope at its head) and the Wool obelisk to orient me.
I don't know who Roy Whitwell was but he and his wife were certainly heroes to their little girl Janice who, on her birthday, crashed into the family garage on roller skates.
Even though she had to go to the hospital, she was patched up within the day and ready to go home- and the Whitwell's pulled together her surprise birthday party at the very last minute with lightening speed. So her birthday wasn't spoiled after all :)
There are a number of mausoleums at Oakwood and some are vast and incredibly sumptuous. This is the Tracy mausoleum. It is known for its beehive roof. But the metalwork on the doors caught my attention on this evening.
Notice the mess around just to the right of the photo center. I am going back and forth looking for a particular memorial. The map was confusingly labelled and difficult to interpret so I was in effect looking in the wrong place.
The blue waypoint flag marks the actual location...
The memorial of Uncle Sam!
Samuel Wilson is widely held to be the original Uncle Sam
a merchant during the War of 1812. All property of the U.S. military was required to by labelled with the letters U.S. Since he was a major supplier to the military soldiers joked that the initials stood for "Uncle Sam". It caught on, the now famous "I want you" poster was created and with it the face of Uncle Sam- the U.S. personified throughout the world.
The cemetery is said to be haunted near here but I guess the spirits don't like this March's weather any more than I do. I was there again after dark on the way out and didn't notice anything.
All monuments are currently required to be granite in Oakwood although some of the older ones seem to be sandstone, a nearly as durable material. A few are marble which alas acid rain and industrial pollution have damaged. The angels at Oakwood are very beautiful sculpture.
This monument is made from a 59,600 pound block of white granite that was quarried in Westerly,Rhode Island then transported to Buffalo,N.Y. to be carved there.
This flower is most likely "Lily of the Valley".
Note the posture; it is the classic contraposto ("counterpose") with one leg straight and carrying the bodyweight and one leg bent and resting. It takes a lot of skill to execute and adds a lot of compositional interest with the combination of tension and rest. The shoulders and hips tip in opposite directions.
The sculptor who carved this probably had huge forearms- using a pointing chisel on this material is terribly hard work and goes very slowly. And the sculpture and crucifix appear to be carved entirely out of one block so a lot of material had to be removed! The Westerly, Rhode Island granite would have been glowing white when the monument first stood on the bright green grass of Oakwood.
If this had been made of limestone or even marble as in Albany Rural Cemetery its details would have been mostly gone.
Okay, roused from my reverie I continued on...
The red and orange arrows indicate the route of travel to and from the Warren Mausoleum. Note the building is symmetrical as is the hill upon which it stands.
I visited another mausoleum, the Grace Mausoleum. It was getting dark so I didn't get to the right location at first (it is at the lowest point on the left).
Notice the orange arrows; they indicate I am trying to return to the parking lot but have gotten 'turned around ' and am going the wrong way.
Ultimately I simply take a compass bearing and begin heading West and ultimately get myself sorted out.
So what was the problem?
- as indicated everything is symmetrical and it is getting dark and hard to see. It was hard to climb the hill to the mausoleum so I was distracted from looking backwards for return landmarks. Also the building is in some disrepair and appears a bit dangerous so watching what was in front of me was more involving.
"Bias of the direction of travel". So every direction looked the same and I had no landmarks to indicate the direction I went on was different from the prior time. - The cemetery goes from Northeast to Southwest so I begin going to the Northeast. The problem is that you really need to move more west because I first saw the mausoleum from the West on the first visit to Oakwood and generally know the West side much better at this point.
So after heading West and taking a road North I was all set.
There are a number of Celtic Crosses here, this was the last photo I took before heading back.
IHS is an acronym for the Greek name for Jesus (IHSOYS) .
The granite is exceptional at "holding detail" , in other words, it is hard so when it is being carved you can carve
very intricately without having the details crumble away as it would with softer media.
So there it was. My third trip in and still no ghosts- but a lot of exceptional art work. As always if I focus on the struggle a bit more and the beauty a bit less it is so that you may have a safe journey should you try this for yourself...
May you be happy.
When I am not wandering around I sculpt so this work inspires me.Here's one of my pieces that I carved and gilded.