Author: Roadtirementvintage

Unique White Bronze cemetery monuments

/ Roadtirementvintage / 13 Comments

When you come across a blueish colored grave monument you can’t help but wonder how it has maintained its lettering and clarity of the dates. No, it is not a later replacement, it is the original zinc metal grave marker. Manufactured by the Bridgeport, CT. Bronze Company, these long lasting  but somewhat fragile monuments were custom made from 1876 until 1914.

When you tap on the surface of these monuments you can immediately tell it is metal. The seams where the individual pieces are joined are also obvious.  Each piece was cast in Bridgeport and then shipped to the cemetery for installation. Customers dealt with sales reps armed with multiple catalogues with unlimited possibilities for choice of monuments.

Name/dates of deceased and panel with “Shaking Hands”

“HOW DESOLATE OUR HOME BEREFT OF THEE”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The zinc-tin alloy used in the castings did not rust and resisted the growth of mold or algae. Each monument was custom ordered, so all are one of a kind. The designs included panels that were screwed in and could even be changed at a later date, if desired.  These were perfect for symbols like the shaking hands, sheaves of wheat or personal messages in addition to the name and dates of the deceased.

A smaller monument

Name/date still legible after nearly 140 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The material of these was advertised as White Bronze. White Bronze doesn’t exist. These are made with a zinc-tin alloy. The company, however, felt that White Bronze is a much classier and sophisticated name than zinc. They also claimed (of course!) that their monuments would outlast any stone monument. In a way that was true, however these zinc beauties were susceptible to breakage from, for example, falling trees. In addition, very tall monuments could suffer over time from settlement of part of the bases.

This panel would have been custom ordered for the monument

The next time you are enjoying a relaxing walk through a cemetery or graveyard keep an eye out for different looking monuments. Go have a look, it just might be a one of a kind White Bronze monument that was cast in Bridgeport, Connecticut between 1876 and 1914.

 

A classic 1877 covered bridge still in service

/ Roadtirementvintage / 15 Comments

Rush County, Indiana is in the east central part of the state. On CR 150 North an 1877 historic covered bridge crosses over Flat Rock River.

Looking west on CR 150 North

The bridge was constructed by the A.M. Kennedy and Sons company, one of three large bridge construction companies building bridges in Indiana. This bridge is 121 feet long, 15.4 feet wide with a clear height of 13.5 feet above the wood deck. The design of this bridge is a Covered Burr arch-truss style.

Family name proudly displayed

Fancy filigree adds a touch of class

Structural details

Standing center span, looking upstream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beautiful bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 2, 1983. There is mention that the bridge did suffer some damage a while back when a fire broke out. Repairs included adding several reinforcing steel plates to some structural members. Standing on the wood bridge deck it is easy to imagine hearing the clip clop of horses crossing this bridge long before cars were invented.

I’ve never seen a tree like this before

/ Roadtirementvintage / 33 Comments

At first from a distance I thought it might be a very large monument in the Arlington East Hill Cemetery.  As we walked through the grounds and got closer it looked somehow like a huge tree.

Looks like a very tall monument

Getting closer it looks more like a dead tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up you can for sure see it is a huge dead tree. The outside surface is very smooth in parts, and it certainly looks like layers twisted tightly around the trunk of the tree. Never seen anything like this. One side has a rather swirled layered look as well.

Looks like twisted layers. Looks rather weird.

The open trunk lower down is very interesting.

Not a common look on a tree trunk

Another view, also uncommon in a tree


This is one of the strangest trees I have ever seen. It started out looking like a large monument in the cemetery. And the closer you got the more you saw the tree. And the details were even more not tree like it seems. Wish I knew what species of tree this is/was. It is located in the Arlington East Hill Cemetery near Arlington, Indiana.

 

Wet squirrel

/ Roadtirementvintage / 27 Comments

This squirrel got caught in our heavy rain storm and got drenched. He hopped on the tree about 3 feet up, grabbed the trunk and held on for dear life. Note his water logged tail.

We were under a severe storm warning that soon turned onto a full fledged tornado warning complete with the phones going off and our local sirens blaring.. We avoided any damage from the very high wind gusts, and fortunately there was no hail. Some parts of town suffered from wind damage.

Haunted Baby Doll Bridge or Hays Bridge

/ Roadtirementvintage / 20 Comments
This historic metal bridge is very close to the driveway leading to the Hays Cemetery in Hancock County, Indiana in the east central part of the state.

Looking North on CR 675 E

Looking south, entrance road to Hays Cemetery is on the horizon

ID plaque with details of the history of the bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar Creek, looking East from bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This bridge is 92 feet in length and is described as a “Fixed, Metal 6 Panel Pin-Connected Pratt Through Truss”. The bridge was designed by Winfield Fries, an engineering firm in Greenfield, the Hancock County Seat. The Columbia Bridge Works of Dayton, Ohio constructed the bridge in 1887.  It spans Sugar Creek.

Cut stone abutment and wingwall

Original wood decking has been replaced with open grating

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost as a mate to the rumors of haunts at nearby Hays Cemetery, the legends of paranormal activity also are attached, at least locally, to this, the Hays Bridge. Reported have been sightings (after dark of course) of forlorn cries of a baby and the vision of a ghostly woman pushing an old fashioned baby carriage across the north end of the bridge. Locals still refer to this as the Baby Doll Bridge.

Haunted Hays Cemetery

/ Roadtirementvintage / 23 Comments

East of Indianapolis in central Indiana is the small town of Wilkinson. In early days you could leave the town on Main Street and follow it to a cemetery that is basically out in the middle of nowhere. The Main Street Cemetery, also known as the Hays Cemetery, has over the years developed the reputation of being haunted. It is at the end of a rather rough gravel road and the road climbs a small rise and cuts across the center of the cemetery. Put Hays Cemetery in Google maps and you’ll get directions to the beginning of the gravel road.

The video shows that the Hays Cemetery is a neatly kept and open cemetery. There is plenty of room between the headstones. Several of the headstones list the names of Hays family members. Unfortunately lots of the stones have suffered from decades of weathering, making them very hard to read.

One of the Hays family who died in 1872

Sad marker for a sweet young girl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to the haunting stuff. Several sources on the internet refer to the “fact” that this is a very haunted cemetery. One of the paranormal things has been the discussion of a ‘devil child’. There is supposed to be a pitch-fork shaped tree growing from the child’s grave. There are reports that local kids used to go out at night and try to call ghosts. We also saw one reference to some man hanging his wife from a tree and shooting her as well, thus spawning another ghostly presence.

Based on location, this might be the “Devil Child”

Ghostly wise, we didn’t see anything. We didn’t hear anything. We didn’t sense anything. We thought that this was a beautiful, peaceful and quiet resting place for many centuries gone Indiana early pioneers.

Wet bunny and other critters

/ Roadtirementvintage / 20 Comments

Wet bunny sitting in a heavy rain shower

Baltimore oriole enjoying the nectar feeder

Red-winged blackbird This is the first season we have seen this species in our yard

This squirrel loves a crunchy kernel of corn

We really enjoy the menagerie that shows up in our backyard. At one point yesterday we counted at least nine (9) squirrels romping around. They were having fun chasing each other up and down and around the tree, and it looked like total pandemonium. We are very fortunate to have a nice yard that gives us our own little slice of nature.