In Carlton, Alabama there’s Mount Nebo Church – it’s pretty much in the middle of the forest, and it’s not very easy to find. At the end of the road is a gate, so you’ll need to leave your car there to walk up to the cemetery and church.
The cemetery has some interesting monuments:
But the thing that makes this place so special is that some of the monuments have death masks. They were made by Isaac Nettles, Sr.
This monument is for his wife. I think her name was “Korean”. The faces that appear here are not of her but of their three daughters:
It’s a little hard to make out, but it says “Mother was born Jan 1894 (???) died July 6, 1933”. I may have not made that out completely correctly but I think that’s it.
The way Isaac Nettles did these death masks is that he had the people – while they were still living – press their faces in a box of sand. From that impression he would pour concrete and use paper and wire to make the finished mask.
