Hope Cemetery - Barre, Vermont
Posted by: 
Vermontish
N 44° 12.656 W 072° 29.882
18T E 699882 N 4898345
A veritable museum of granite sculpture
Waymark Code: WM7284
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 08/22/2009
Views: 10
By the time this cemetery opened in 1895, stoneworkers from around the world (but mostly Italian) were flocking to Barre to work in the booming granite industry. A sad fact of such work was silicosis, caused by inhaling granite dust. Sculptors started creating their own gravestones, some quite ornate, as a display of their skills. The result is a concentration of intricate, artistic, hobby and occupation stones.
Today, Hope Cemetery is a tourist attraction. Visitors are encouraged to drive or walk through and view the stones themselves, and guided tours are available for a small fee. Hope has been featured in National Geographic, on PBS, and in various tourist publications. It has been referred to as a museum of granite sculpture.
At over 65 acres, Hope is the largest of three municipal cemeteries in the city, with over 10,000 graves. Not everything is artistic; there are lots of plain old traditional stones, but there is still plenty to look at.
Visit Instructions:
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