Cemetery Reflections

Stroll through three centuries of American cemeteries through photographic images, historic poetry, and memorable prose.

Cemetery Reflections features pictures of intricately carved headstones and statues that vividly capture the pain of grief and loss. It offers poignant excerpts from nineteenth century literature, epitaphs, and sensitive recollections of family losses. The book explores the cemetery as a place of solace, where final and loving farewells may rest safely among the tombstones. The rhythm of the book is designed to help people think about the meaning of their own life and death. It is a book to be contemplated slowly in a comfortable chair in a quiet space.

The reader will find stunning photos in both black-and-white and color. Paired with the images are poignant passages drawn from timeless literature and sensitive recollections of family losses. The cemetery emerges as a place of solace, where final and loving farewells may rest safely among the tombstones. This book offers a compassionate context that deepens awareness of the experience of death. Devotees of art, history, poetry, and philosophy will find Cemetery Reflections a mesmerizing journey. Grief is intense and lonely, dying can be frightening and sometimes painful beyond expectation, and the "great beyond" remains a mystery. The pandemic and recent violence in the US have brought issues of death to the forefront. People are searching for ways to better understand and cope with challenges that once seemed far distant. Cemetery Reflections can provide a valuable assist in this process.

Jane Hopkins, a fine art photographer, has explored over 200 cemeteries in the eastern US and Canada over the past decade. Her educational background includes degrees in Psychology and Social Work. She studied digital photography and printing at Rochester Institute of Technology, the Corcoran School of Art, and with photographer Dan Burkholder. Her fine art photographs have been exhibited and sold regionally and nationally since 2002. Jane lives with her husband Tom in Webster, NY on the shore of Lake Ontario.