On Saturday Liz and Amy wanted to go to the grave of Susan B. Anthony, who is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, in Rochester, NY. She lived in Rochester from the age of 25. Liz and Amy and Kathy were really moved while standing by her grave, realizing that Susan B. Anthony spent her entire life in the service of women's issues.
This is a closer view of the gravestone. Notice that there are some "I Voted"stickers on the stone. On election, there were lines of people who wanted to visit the grave - reportedly 12,000 people stood in line to see the grave! And they completely covered the grave stone with stickers, except where the name was. The staff removed the stickers and now other stickers have been placed there.
Here is a photograph of Amy and Kathy and Liz at the grave.
So I know that the people have good intentions in putting the stickers on the grave stone, and on this brass plaque. But here is the problem as explained to me by one of the staff. The stickers have adhesive on them, and the marble stone absorbs some of the adhesive. The cemetery staff can't use just anything to remove the glue, because the marble will absorb the solvent, and that can damage the marble. So they will have to consult specialists on how to clean the stone without damaging it.
Great photos and amazing that so many visited her grave in thanks of all she did, but sad that it is being defaced with stickers. Maybe they should consider a memory board next to her headstone and plaque.
ReplyDeleteJoan
I like Joan's idea. People can be so thoughtless about how they pay tribute to someone. Nice that women, especially, acknowledged Susan B. Anthony's efforts and accomplishments, but c'mon people, use your heads!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these comments. It turns out that after the gravestone was covered with stickers, they did put some boards up on easels near the gravestones, and put the stickers on those boards. And then, of course, more people put more stickers on the gravestone... Sigh... It was stunning, that 12,000 people came to pay their respects, though.
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