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All the United States New York State New York City Brooklyn The Tomb of Jane Griffith
AO Edited

The Tomb of Jane Griffith

A heartbreaking monument showing the last morning in the life of Jane Griffith.

Brooklyn, New York

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Luke Spencer
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To Jane, My Wife.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
To Jane, My Wife.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
The 6th Avenue horse trolley.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Charles Griffith waves farewell to his wife for the last time.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Charles Griffith is dressed in stovepipe hat and coat of the mid 19th century.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
The only weather damage is to the young wife’s face.   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
The Jane Griffith Memorial   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
  wherearewedude / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Hidden in one of America's most historic cemeteries is a haunting 19th-century tombstone depicting the last morning of Jane Griffith.

There are plenty of gorgeous Victorian tombstones in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, but few tell a story so plainly as this one. Beautifully carved by Italian artist Patrizio Piatti (1824-1888) in precise, three-dimensional detail, the grave depicts a commonplace domestic scene with a tragically sorrowful ending.

Charles Griffith says goodbye to his wife Jane on the footsteps of their brownstone on 109 West 13th Street. It is the morning of August 3rd, 1857, and he is about to leave for a typical day's work, starting with a commute on the Sixth Avenue horse trolley which waits on the corner. This day starts like any other, and the carving depicts this in all of its everyday simplicity. What happens next isn't portrayed in the engraving but its medium and location makes it clear that this day was not like every other. Tragically, when Charles returned home from work, he found his wife dead from heart failure.

Piatti's detail is extraordinary, from the iron fencing to their pet dog waiting on the top step of the brownstone. Simply titled to "Jane my Wife," the monument captures poignantly the morning Charles said farewell to his wife without knowing that it was for the last time. 

It is said that an ever-devoted Charles regularly visited his wife's final resting place for the 25 years until he finally joined her in death.

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Gravestones Graveyards Cemeteries Tombs Death Graves

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Added By

Luke J Spencer

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Rachel, Molly McBride Jacobson, richarddworkin, wherearewedude

  • Rachel
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • richarddworkin
  • wherearewedude

Published

May 27, 2013

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The Tomb of Jane Griffith
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street
Brooklyn, New York, 11218
United States
40.652222, -73.991111
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