ROCHESTER, NEW YORK – An astonishing discovery at a cemetery in upstate New York revealed a sad story and also the resilience of funerary architecture, or mortuary art.
On Thursday, staff from Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery emerged into the sunlight after a severe storm swept through the area.
While surveying the area, they stumbled on a large Norway Maple tree that had been ripped out of the ground by intense storms, revealing a long-forgotten grave.
The uprooted tree uncovered a headstone for Edna Amelia Goodman Allen, who was born in 1892 and died at 26 in 1918.
According to the cemetery, she was survived by her husband, son and six siblings.
The headstone was nearly completely buried underground, and once the intense winds picked up and ripped the tree from the ground, it emerged.
The National Weather Service reported that wind gusts reached as high as 55 mph, along with heavy rain and thunderstorms.
The headstone is in remarkable condition, aside from some cleaning needed for a 108-year-old headstone, and the writing is very legible.
According to the cemetery, once the tree is removed, they will clean and treat the headstone.
