Types of Graves

The winged death’s head was the first gravestone design of the colonies. Its popularity is rooted in the Puritan loathing of icons, something they associated with Catholicism.

This is the monument to three siblings who died.
The cherub stones supposedly symbolize the strong belief in “salvation” and “resurrection” that are embodied in “the Great Awakening”.
The higher society or more educated people tended to have the earliest cherub stones. Some speculate that perhaps this is because they had close ties with England and its trends.

The Old Durham Cemetery has many “new” stones that were installed to replace the original sandstone that had been degrading. The white stones throughout the cemetery are veterans of a variety of conflicts.

This is also a classic style of stone that you will see throughout the cemetery. The cherub on top is very common.

This is an example of a stone that is deteriorating and soon will not be legible.

This is a classic stone for a military veteran.