Stone Monuments

Protestant restraint in the United States discourages ostentatious forms of remembrance, as if Calvin were watching the tombstones. Simple lettering and carved details are most common in early American gravestones, establishing the symbolism, if not the form, of more modern ones. Even famous people find themselves buried under rather laconic stones, as with President Theodore Roosevelt. Charles Sumner Greene, the famous arts and crafts architect, designed a simple tombstone for his father, with the only flourish being a lovingly rendered tilting Ionic capital, falling but not fallen.