ABSTRACT
Cemeteries are a valuable source for investigating a broad range of subjects concerning the collective values and attitudes of generations past. Beginning in the colonial era and extending into the early nineteenth century, certain types of burial grounds were widespread. Markers and their inscriptions reinforced this contact with didactic messages that stressed the inevitability of mortality and the certainty of divine judgment. The rise of Methodism and Unitarianism also might have played a role, although this possible connection and its theological underpinnings warrant further research. As images evolved, so too did epitaphs, which became less grim and more hopeful and reassuring. Cemetery planners developed an alternative model, the 'lawn-park' design whose paradigm was Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio, which opened in 1845 and was remodeled along lawn-park lines in 1855. Memorial-park cemeteries also reveal important developments in American life.
