Tree Shaped Tombstones - Pacific

- Note: One of my rules of thumb is that you never find just one of these "Tree Shaped Tombstones in a cemetery.  There are always at least a couple.  But on a fall road trip I ran across a bunch of exceptions to this rule.  Here is "One Off Week". -

Pacific Cemetery was probably once aptly named.  It is in rural Dane county northwest of Madison.  From the front gate it still looks peaceful.

But it is no longer in a bucolic countryside.  The road along one side no longer conveys gently clopping horses and wagons but cars and trucks zipping past.  And to make it less tranquil there was a back hoe working nearby.  Also two dogs fenced in an adjacent yard who were quite vocal in their disapproval of my visit.  

Amidst all the racket I did find one Tree Shaped Tombstone.

A nicely done specimen.  Note the auto body shop in the background.

I like to highlight some of the nicer efforts of the talented artisans who made these. Note the well executed flower. It has its own little ledge, a chalice like pot, and every flower - or are they leaves? - crisply defined.

The same cannot be said for the "Book of Life" that sits atop the monument.  As we have seen on prior examples the right angle exposure to the elements is not kind to stone or to the works of man.  We are left with a few blurred dates and perhaps the name JONES.  At some point in the future I suspect the road will be quiet again, with gently whirring electric cars.  But by then the inscription will be lost entirely.