Month: July 2022

North Meats South
Birmingham AL, 2009.

Walker-Klinner Farm
Maplesville AL, 2009.

In the Amish community
Outside Ethridge TN, 2009.

The NYT had an article late last month called Family Recipes Etched in Stone. Gravestone, That Is. They say you can’t take it with you, but recipes do disappear when loved ones die. These families have found a novel way to record them for posterity.

It included this monument in Castor, Louisiana for Peony Watson that includes her recipe for peach cobbler. Another, Kay’s Fudge on this monument in Utah.

Not the same, but I think of Nora Ephron, whose recipes from her personal collection were distributed to those at her funeral.

I was leaving Nora Ephron’s memorial, perfectly planned by Nora herself, when a mutual friend rushed up to me. “Here, Liz!” she said, clutching a loose piece of paper. “Nora included your recipe for biscuits.” Instructions for random dishes—22 in all—had been tucked into each of the programs handed out at the service. “Let’s see what you got in yours.” It turned out to be a confounding pâté recipe, which I quickly exchanged for my own biscuit recipe.

There’s actually a peanut butter cookie Norah was crazy for — it was from the Dahlia Bakery in Seattle:

This may be the most sought-after cookie recipe in the book, the cookie that makes it into Seattle Metropolitan magazine’s food lover’s guide year after year. Once, when director, screenwriter (When Harry Met Sally), and novelist Nora Ephron was in town, she stopped by the dahlia Bakery and bought a few of these cookies. Later she e-mailed me, saying this was her all-time favorite and asked for the recipe. Naturally, I sent it to Nora along with a big package of cookies. When I asked Nora if I could name the cookie after her in my cookbook, she said, “Are you kidding me? This may be the greatest cookie ever ever ever.”

Of course, I got the cookbook. Norah Ephron is one of my favorite directors (not to be the crazy person, but there’s a tv in my office, and when it’s not playing Sunset Boulevard, the original Mildred Pierce and the Mildred Pierce series from HBO, I get in several screenings of her You’ve Got Mail each week — it’s this super familiar soundtrack to my working week. It’s like how I use Ken Burns’ documentary series on The Roosevelts to put me to sleep. My brain is filled with lines from FDR, Teddy, Eleanor, Mildred, Norma, and The Shop Around the Corner’s Kathleen Kelly.).

Anyway, you know this already. I made the peanut butter cookies. Not a fan of Skippy so hello Peter Pan, but yes. And they are terrific.

Can’t think of a recipe marker that I’ve run across, but I do know of a marker that’s almost like a resume or list of achievements, in Cullman County, Alabama:

and this one, an acrostic, in Etowah County AL

statements of being the best, like this one in Walker County, Alabama, for “the greatest man G-d ever made”

and #1 wife mother and grandmother, in Etowah County AL

also, a big fan of listing the family, like this one in Dekalb County, Alabama

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Huge aside, but back to food and cemeteries: the Tennessee Pride Country Sausage mascot is present at the Odom family’s plot in Nashville.

I wanted to repost this 2009 cemetery visit from because I was going back through some images from that month and was so taken with how artistic some — many — of the monuments here are. Also, there’s a really terrific white bronze monument:

One of the really terrific things about these white bronze (zinc) monuments is how much detail stands out, even after all these years (this monument is for someone buried in 1885).

The monuments are hollow and could be customized, as they were ordered via catalog with a variety of motifs.

Below is the option called ‘The Last Voyage’ (page 12 of the catalog) and the company could even make a large one of these appropriate for the entrance to a cemetery, at dimensions of 3’10” x 5’4-3/4″ and offered the option to gild the raised portions with gold, even. It was the work of Archibald McKellar.

These white bronze monuments were only made between the 1870s and WWI; the factory at that time was converted for war munitions, and after the war made other non-ferrous objects. That Bridgeport CT plant closed for good in 1939. There were other companies making things in white bronze, but apparently only this facility in CT made grave markers. More about zinc sculptures here at Smithsonian.

Identifying these quickly is really pretty easy: in the older part of a cemetery with monuments earlier than 1915 or so, look for the ones that retain this nice coloring and detail — they’re so good about staying ‘clean’ even though the company would sandblast the stampings to give more of the look of stone and would sometimes even do a stamping to purposefully look like the monument was made from stone.

Elsewhere in the cemetery, more traditional monuments:

Death loves a shining mark. It is truly said, and seeks the brightest victims for his dead. The gifted mind, the youthful form with all the grace of nature seem the first to fall. T’was thus with Evelyn, pure without alloy; gentle and kind, she was her parents’ joy. Daily devoted to her Savior’s cause, secured in her, obedience to His laws. Let those who loved her sorrow not in vain for G-d will surely raise her up again. By his degree the fatal shaft was hurl’d to take her spirit to a brighter world.

This was for Sarah Evelyn Watkins, daughter of Dr Samuel Watkins and Martha W. Vaughan, born March 12, 1831 and died September 14, 1852

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Actually, while we’re on it, here are some pics from the Riverview Cemetery in Demopolis AL — it’s about :20 from Dayton, and also has some really incredible monuments:

Here are the Library of Congress images of the Glover Family Tomb from 1934 — and drawings for the ornate metal fence/gate around it.

This is the gate for the Enners plot. This is a Robert Wood ironwork fence from Philadelphia. An image of the foundry here. The inscription in the middle is: Mrs H.F. Enners Demopolis ALA. May 1875

Henry A. Enners was born August 19, 1834 in Osnabrueck, Germany (which is gorgeous) and died March 14, 1874 at Demopolis. In the 1860 census, he’s listed as a planter with $12000 in real estate, $33000 personal estate. I only just noticed this, but his wife Harriet is several years older than him: born in 1818, in South Carolina.  In 1860, he had 280 acres improved, 120 unimproved.  Four horses, six donkeys or mules, eight milk cows, four oxen, 20 other cattle, and 30 pigs. In a year, the estate amassed 1000 bushels of indian corn; 46 bales (400lbs ea) of ginned cotton; and if I’m reading the federal census non-population schedule correctly for the following page,  5 bushels of peas; 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, 600 bushels of sweet potatoes. With the disclaimer again that I’m hopefully reading this correctly, the slave schedule in 1860 lists 31 slaves under his name, 16 of whom are female, in six houses; in age they are from 65 to 5yo. In the 1870 census, he’s listed as a merchant with $22000 in personal estate belongings, and the real estate box is empty.

By 1872, he’d gone into business with Morris Mayer, and they set up shop in a two-story building on the SW corner of Washington and Walnut St downtown. If I have the compass set correctly, here it is:

And this is the Bird monument. I knew Jim Bird who has the amazing art environment in Forkland would do something special for his wife:

We took the long way home after getting Shug back to start Session B at camp, and visited the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. It’s new, and while we only had about :45 to visit before they closed that afternoon, it was really the perfect amount of time to get everything in. Here are some highlights:

 

1954 Kaiser Darrin Series 161 Roadster — the doors slide closed

 

1934 Ford Brewster Town Car

 

1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cabriolet

 

1987 Lamborghini Countach

 

1991 Ferrari F40

 

Super fun was the 1948 Chrysler Town & Country Sedan

with the best plaid in the front & back

Above, a Cube Works Studio piece of a of the 1946 Mercury Woodie Wagon, made up of 903 Rubik Cubes.

They have a rotating calendar of exhibits, so not everything will be up even a few months from now. In fact, my favorite, the Woodies in Gallery B, are only on view through July 31.

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One of my dream, weekend-only cars is a 1980-something Jeep Grand Wagoneer, pref blue or red, with the wood package. Nice.