A gravestone lovely as a tree

As commonplace as graveyards are there is always beauty to be found within their gates. In the town of Lexington a dozen gravestones dot the yard of a small church. Most are simple slabs except for this one memorializing a young woman who died more than a hundred years ago. (click on the photo for an enlarged image)

Trees are recurrent motifs in gravestone iconography. They represent the regenerative beauty of life. Befittingly, a tree stump alludes to the brevity of life.

Note the exceptionally fine detail of the bark. That rope looks woven rather than carved!

Surrounded by mountains, woods and streams, this lovely marker of a life complements its idyllic setting.