In 1867 the Ladies’ Oak Grove Cemetery Association was formed, to beautify the grounds that many locals considered an embarrassment. In 1870 the association financed an intricately cut and engraved sandstone archway at the cemetery’s original entrance. A girl scaled the arch around 1960, fell off and broke her arm, so the unfortunate decision was made to raze the arch—for “safety reasons.” The heavy stones were cast to a pile into woods adjoining the cemetery. 

I built a base of fieldstone and stones salvaged from the arch, and atop this were set two of the big, original stones, in homage to those Ladies of Hillsdale. They did a fine job. Oak Grove is a fetching place nearly 150 years later, with trees that old. 

Here are start-and-finish shots. Not pictured are a pair of concrete benches, fashioned after a stone one at a nearby grave. 

The central base stone is a portion of the original keystone, which I inverted because the wider end was flat and the narrow end was not. Also had in mind “symbolism” of some sort, an upside-down arch piece silently rueing its relegation from great height to ground; something along those lines. 

A bronze plaque tells the whole story. If you can read it here, you have frighteningly good eyes. 

McCormick Masonry takes on quite an array of important projects, including concrete Terrier tail repair. Here I’m smoothing the adhesive in one of the dog’s nether regions. 

The dog required no anesthetics for this operation.