Cemetery Symbolism

Broken Column or Tree Trunk “Life cut short” Usually means a young person in their teens or twenties.

Lamb “Innocence” when you see a lamb on a grave it’s usually a young child.

Obelisks A four-sided, tapering shaft having a pyramidal point; a gravemarker type popularized by romantic taste for classical imagery.

Open Gates Afterlife, the soul ebtering heaven.

Stones on Grave It has long been the tradition for each visitor to a Jewish grave site to place a single stone on the monument. When the tradition started, grave monuments were mounds of stones. Visitors added stones to "the mound" to show we are never finished building the monument to the deceased. It tells visitors that follow that others had also visited the grave.

Upside-Down Torches A symbol of death - stained-glass window in the mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery has this design featuring upside-down torches.