Fancy obelisk time, from Riverview Cemetery in Baldwinsville, NY:
Overall, typical obelisk. Got the draped tip and a wreath around it...
Rather than being for one person or family, this obelisk honors members of the Mohegan Lodge No. 33 of the International Order of Odd Fellows, instituted 1846. If you zoom in on the first picture, you'll see long lists of names (even a couple running onto the curved bit of the base).
Appropriately, they went wild on including symbols on the different faces of this interstitial plinth.
- Tent and crooks
- the all-seeing eye
- IOOF chain links
- a smokey urn (lamp?) on a pedestal [officially: altar of incense]
- fasces with scales - this one seems to be a combo of the IOOF sword balancing scales + bundle of sticks (not fasces)
- bow with 3 arrows
- clasped hands
- mother and children
- 3 chain links with axe
- heart in hand
- dove with olive branch
- open book (a bible)
Learn about these symbols:
- Odd Fellowship: Its History and Manual (1895) by Theodore A. Ross. Chapter 11 covers Emblems, Regalia, and Jewels.
- Bullock Museum: Independent Order of Odd Fellows Tracing Board
- tent, heart in hand, chain links, sword and scale, bow and arrows, bundle of sticks
- Off Fellows Guide: The Lost Symbols of Odd Fellowship
- chain links with axe
- Wisconsin Historical Society: Odd Fellows Poster
- dove, all-seeing eye, heart in hand, bible
- Garland IOOF Lodge #304: Odd Fellow Art
- no explanatory notes, but offers a slideshow of historic posters and other art depicting symbols
Related:
- Gravely Speaking post on an OOF cemetery gate
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