What We Think of as a Gravestone to Day

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The use of grave markers definitely goes back. What we think of as a gravestone to day probably came around the sixteenth and seventeenth century. And then in the nineteenth century, they's like trees and urns and the sort of romanticizing. I'm always so curious, how long ago in europe did they start using tombstones? It could have been earlier, but we don't really have too much evidence from for the reformation,. The monasteries were all shut and smashed up. A lot of monuments were defaced and destroyed.

Bidding farewell to the sweetest and spookiest month, we traipse past graves with archeologist, conservator and Taphologist Robyn Lacy. What’s the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery? Is it wrong to picnic in one? And can tombstone scrubbing help the world and soothe your living soul? Plus, font trends on headstones, old-timey gravestone emojis, a coffin-within-a-coffin, the best epitaphs and knowing the difference between slate, marble, and granite monuments. To celebrate Halloween, stop by the cemetery gates to do zinckies with your best ghosties. (That will make sense later.)

Robyn S. Lacy’s website: spadeandthegrave.com

Follow her @graveyard_arch on Twitter and Instagram

Gravestone conservation info: blackcatcemeterypreservation.wordpress.com

A donation went to UNICEF Canada's COVID-19 vaccine initiative: https://www.unicef.ca/en/what-we-do/donate-to-coronavirus?fbclid=IwAR2df-h92Svs5lURmjea4qsq-8P6xbeieDajBFbQPfkHvQYjNGHhPzOePJk

Halloween Scavenger Hunt info: https://www.talkdeath.com/talkdeath-halloween-cemetery-scavenger-hunt/