Accordions in the Cemetery

 June is National Accordion Month.  While at first this doesn’t appear to be a topic for a cemetery blog – it is.  It seems that accordions do have their place in the cemetery.

Accordion

The accordion, also called the squeezebox is a bellows-driven musical instrument with keys that control the reeds inside the box.  An accordion can be played solo and is usually considered a one-man-band instrument.

In View of the Lincoln Tomb

In Springfield, Illinois the grave of “Mr. Accordion” holds a prominent spot in Oak Ridge Cemetery. Roy Bertelli has a small plot within sight (and hearing distance) of Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb.

Mr Accordion

Bertelli called himself “Mr. Accordion” and had a lifelong love affair with the instrument.  He wanted to be remembered for what had given him his greatest joy in life.

Entrance to Oak Ridge Cemetery

Bertelli, a Springfield resident, also wanted to be buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery.  He approached the cemetery years ago to see if there were any plots available in the area he was interested in.  Cemetery personnal said that the tiny triangle of land near Lincoln’s tomb could be purchased.  Bertelli was said to have bought it on the spot.

Oak Ridge Cemetery Office

But a few weeks later he received a letter from the cemetery telling him that the plot was sold to him by mistake.  According to friends of Bertelli, he would have returned the plot to Oak Ridge – but then a second letter came from an attorney representing the cemetery making the usual threats if he did not comply with the return.

Lifetime Dedication & WW II Vet

Roy Bertelli & His Accordions

Bertelli decided to fight.  He not only refused to return the plot, he placed a two thousand pound above ground granite crypt with the image of an accordion carved on it and the words “Lifetime Dedication to the Accordion.” It is said that he paid $30,000 for the marker.  Bertelli enjoyed showing up, standing on his crypt and playing the accordion for cemetery visitors, waiting to tour Lincoln’s Tomb, (Oak Ridge Cemetery has over 375,000 visitors each year,) much to the embarrassment of the cemetery officials and the City of Springfield.

Camp Butler Cemetery

Roy Bertelli

When Roy Bertelli died in 2003 at the age of 92, he succeeded in having the last laugh.  It seems that Bertelli was not buried in his accordion crypt as planned, but was interred at Camp Butler National Cemetery east of Springfield since he was a veteran of WW II.  Rumor has it that his beloved accordions now reside inside the crypt.

Green-Wood Cemetery Entrance

Another episode of cemeteries and accordions had to do with a site specific performance –walking tour.  The performance group Angels and Accordions began to present shows set to accordion music in 2004.  The Dance Theatre Etcetera and the Green-Wood Historic Fund for the Green-Wood Cemetery, located in Brooklyn, New York, produced the programs.  

Angels in White, Musicians in Black

A cast of thirty angels, dressed in white, ten accordions and an ensemble of classical music performers dressed in black,  guided visitors through the cemetery to the sounds of original music composed for the event. 

Angels at Tombstone

In the Catacombs

Instead of the usual polka type music expected from accordions these musicians played more somber and deeper music.  Singers and performers could be found interacting at gravesites, with statuary and monuments, among the trees, even in the cemetery’s catacombs - all performing to the melancholy music of accordions and classical instruments.  Accordions were chosen as the lead instruments because of their portability.

An Angel in the Cemetery

The idea of the show was to involve the public with the artistic works and music of the cemetery.  It was a way to get people to see cemeteries not as repositories of death but also as beautiful places that can show us the complexities and richness of life.

Angels Among the Monuments

The performances were delightful and exciting, but as cemeteries teach us, all things must pass.  It was decided in 2010 that Angels and Accordions had ran it’s course and the final program was presented on October 9, 2010. 

Accordion Keyboard

Although accordions are viewed more as a folk music instrument, they are gaining popularity in classical music, and as we’ve seen, they are also taking their place in cemetery lore.

~ Joy

The Bicentennial of the War of 1812

 

A Battle in the War of 1812

Map of Battle Sites

This Monday, June 18, will mark the 200^th anniversary of the beginning of the War of 1812.  Although a fledgling country, the United States showed it’s moxie by declaring war on the greatest power in the world, Great Britain.

Americans were tired of Great Britain’s domineering attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy’s impressments of U.S. sailors into service for Britain, and the continual thwarting of America’s expansion into the western territory.  The war would last almost three years, ending on February 17, 1815 with the Treaty of Ghent.

American’s viewed the War of 1812 as the second war for independence.  (They had fought their first war for freedom from English rule almost 30 years before during the American Revolution.)  This time Americans vowed to eliminate Britain’s hold on North America for good.  It was time for the United States to become totally independent from Great Britain and Europe.

Although the War of 1812 does not garner much attention now, it was a catalyst for many amazing and familiar events and facts that are part of our lives today.

Canada, British and Indian Troops

It was during this war that the U.S. invaded Canada three times.  In the U.S., the War of 1812 is seldom celebrated but in Canada it is heralded as a time when the Canadians stood against the U.S. and won - all three times.

Burning of the White House

While the American Revolution won the U.S. its independence – the War of 1812 cemented it.  America came out of this war as a power to be reckoned with.  Patriotism was high after the British army captured Washington and burned the White House on August 24, 1814.  American citizens saw this act as barbaric and rallied together for the defeat of the British.

Original Star Spangled Banner

Francis Scott Key

The U.S. national anthem was written less than two weeks later during the Battle of Fort McHenry on September 3, 1814. Francis Scott Key watched the conflict from aboard the HMS Minden where he was being held captive.  Key was so inspired by the fight that he penned the words to what we now know as the Star Spangled Banner.   However, when he wrote it, Key titled it the Defence of Fort McHenry.

'Uncle Sam' Wilson

It is also said that Uncle Sam was created during the War of 1812. New York meat packer, Sam Wilson, packaged rations for the military in barrels stamped “E.A. -  U.S.”  The initials E A stood for Elbert Anderson, the producer, and rumor had it that U.S. stood for ‘Uncle Sam’ Wilson, the meat packer. (The image of the white bearded Uncle Sam came about during World War One.)

In April 1905, the last veteran of the War of 1812 died.  New York City held a Grand Parade to honor Private Hiram Silas Cronk, who died just two weeks after his 105^th birthday.  Cronk had spent his life after the war as a farmer in the state of New York.

Monument Dedicated to the War of 1812

Arlington Cemetery

Also, in 1905, construction workers discovered the bodies of fourteen soldiers of the War of 1812 at what is now the Washington Navy Yard.  The remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery later that year.  It wasn’t until April 1976, the year of the United State’s Bicentennial, that the Daughters of the War of 1812 had a monument erected at Arlington as a tribute to the fourteen unknown soldiers and sailors of the War of 1812, and to all others who had also died in that war.

Johnny Horton

For many of us growing up in the sixties, singer Johnny Horton gave us our first understanding of the War of 1812 - set to music.  Horton was a rockabilly singer known for his historical ballads.  He recorded his number one chart topper, The Battle of New Orleans in 1958. 

Jimmy Driftwood

The song was written in the 1950’s by Jimmy Driftwood, an Arkansas school teacher.  Driftwood wanted his students to become more interested in history, so he decided to put major events to music to get their attention. In 1960, the song won a Grammy for Best Country and Western Recording.  

Although the War of 1812 is known as the "Forgotten War,"  it is because of these three years of battles that America stepped out from Britain's shadow and became a world power to be taken seriously. Let us remember this on Monday and honor what our ancestors believed in and fought for.

~ Joy

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Cemetery Designs

 

Frank Lloyd Wright

Today marks what would have been the 145th birthday of American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.  Wright is known for what he termed ‘organic architecture,’ which later developed into his Prairie Style.

Falling Water

During Wright’s 72 years as an architect, he designed over 1,000 buildings and structures, and actually built around 500 of them. Wright is known for such architectural gems as Falling Water in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Belvidere, Illinois

Buffalo, New York

But what people don’t usually realize is that Frank Lloyd Wright also designed a memorial chapel for a cemetery that is built in Illinois; and a very modern mausoleum that can be found in a cemetery in New York.

 

Pettit Chapel:

Front of Pettit Chapel

The Pettit Chapel is located in Belvidere Cemetery in Belvidere, Illinois.  Wright designed the chapel after Emma Glasner Pettit approached him with the request.  She wanted an indoor setting where friends and family could gather to pay their respects to her husband, William Pettit.  Pettit had been a doctor in Cedar Falls, Iowa and had built the largest medical practice in the state during the late 1890’s.  When he died of a heart attack in 1899, his body was taken back to Belvidere, Illinois, his hometown.  Crowds of people from Cedar Falls wanted to attend the funeral in Belvidere.  So many, in fact, that a special train had to be chartered so that all who wanted to attend, could.

T Shaped Chapel

Low Prairie Style Architecture

It was 1906 when the Belvider Cemetery Association approved the request and design for the memorial chapel, and building began in 1907.  The T-shaped chapel cost around $3,000 to build.  The Pettit Chapel was the only structure Wright designed for a cemetery and one of the earliest of his Prairie Style buildings.

Low Overhanging Roof

Inside the Chapel

Wright designed the chapel with a fireplace inside, and a porch with a low overhanging roof, typical of his buildings to come.  Art glass windows were used, along with wood trim.  The exterior was covered in a stucco finish.  The chapel was used for funerals in the cemetery until the 1920’s.  In 1978, the Pettit Chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The chapel has undergone restoration twice since 1907, once in 1977, and again in 2003.

Pettit Chapel in Cemetery

Wright's Organic Style

The Pettit Chapel may be seen during regular cemetery hours.  It is still used for weddings, funerals, meetings and luncheons. For more information contact the Belvidere Cemetery at (815) 547-7642 or visit http://www.belviderecemetery.com.

Blue Sky Mausoleum:

Blue Sky Mausoleum

Another of Wright’s architectural designs for a cemetery can be found at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.  This one-of-a-kind, organic design is known as the Blue Sky Mausoleum.  Best described as an outdoor mausoleum, the blueprint shows no walls or roof. 

Wright's Sketch

It was during the late 1920’s when Darwin Martin, of the Larkin Soap Company, contacted Frank Lloyd Wright about designing a family mausoleum for him.  Martin wanted it built in Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Buffalo.  Wright drew up a sketch, but Martin never had the mausoleum built. A year later, he lost his fortune in the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and with the start of the Great Depression, the plans for the mausoleum were put away.

View From Across Lake

It was not until October 2004 that the Blue Sky Mausoleum was finally constructed.  In the mid-90’s, Fred Whaley Jr., President of the Forest Lawn Cemetery, discovered that Frank Lloyd Wright had designed a mausoleum for his cemetery.  After several years of fund raising, the needed $500,000 was raised and the cemetery had the memorial built according to Wright’s drawings from 75 years before. 

Benches and Crypts at Top

Crafted from white granite and concrete, twenty-four crypts rise gently from the edge of a lake up a hill, with steps going up the center.   Benches protrude from a vertical marker at the top. Green trees provide the walls and the sky is the ceiling.

View with Lake

According to Wright’s notes, “This is a burial facing the open sky – a dignified great headstone commune to all.”  Designed in stepping terraces, it offers an organic compromise between the grave and a mausoleum.

 

Forest Lawn Cemetery

Since the mausoleum did not get built for the Martin family, it now offers a unique opportunity. The crypts are available for sale to the public by contacting the cemetery. This is the only Frank Lloyd Wright structure that you can elect to be buried in.  Forest Lawn Cemetery also offers tours of the mausoleum.  For more information call (716) 885-1600 or visit www.forest-lawn.com. 

Frank Lloyd Wright

Cemeteries are truly amazing places to visit.  Especially when you find not only architectural gems, but also masterpieces designed by architectural giants!

~ Joy