My latest book, This Place of Silence: Ohio’s Cemeteries and Burial Grounds, is the subject of a slide program and book signings at Grafton-Midview Public Library in Lorain County, Ohio on Thursday, June 4, at 6:00 pm.
The lion statue shown above rests on the Daykin gravestone at Riverside Cemetery, a large cemetery in Brooklyn on West 25th Street that features many impressive monuments. This photograph is included in This Place of Silence, as is another Brooklyn cemetery, Ridge Road No. 2 Jewish Cemetery, where the photo below was taken.
The Cohanim (or Kohanim) hands raised in blessing on the grave marker are symbolic of the priestly tribe of Aaron and usually mark the graves of Cohens or their relatives. Older Jewish gravestones are often all in Hebrew and dates are given according to the Jewish calendar. More recent gravestones combine Hebrew and English.
This Place of Silence highlights and showcases Ohio’s cemeteries and burial grounds, which are often beautiful but neglected pieces of history. Cemeteries are not dark, morbid places to be avoided but rather historical landscapes full of beauty, hope, history and honor for those Ohioans who came before us.
My co-photographer, Randall Lee Schieber, our writer, Robin Smith, and I hope the photographic fruits and text of our cemetery travels in Ohio will tempt you to follow in our footsteps and transform you into tombstone tourists in the Buckeye State.
In addition to this new book, I will also be signing copies of A Photographer’s Guide to Ohio, Volumes 1 and 2 and Ohio in Photographs: A Portrait of the Buckeye State.
For more information on this program, visit the Grafton-Midview Public Library website.