(NECN: Jack Thurston, Barre, VT) - For Doug and Jennifer Alexander of Toronto, Canada, a walk through Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont was part leaf-peeping adventure, part trip back in time.
"There's a sense of individual flair," Jennifer Alexander said of the cemetery's headstones.
The tombstones wow 10,000 or more visitors a year. Unique designs include a biplane mid-flight, a husband and wife in bed together, and a soccer ball.
"I haven't seen that anyplace else," Doug Alexander said.
The creations came from the master stone carvers who settled in Barre to work in the granite industry, many from Italy.
"The idea of touring a cemetery is something a lot of people at first raise their eyebrows at," Hope Cemetery tour director Shelley Ibey said. "But many, like me, love the history."
Now, Ibey has a new way to spread the word about this special place. Hope Cemetery has become something of a "cyber cemetery."
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The monument-makers at the famous Vermont company Rock of Ages recently released maps that also tell visitors how to use their cell phones to take self-guided tours. You just dial a number on your phone to plug into an audio database and listen to stories about some of the coolest stones. At one headstone, which looks like a piece of living room furniture, visitors can hear how the man buried under it used to come home at the end of the day, sit in his favorite chair, and enjoy a glass of homemade wine.
The $5 map will help pay to maintain the still-growing 1890s landmark.
"And you don't have to have a fancy cell phone," Ibey pointed out, explaining any cell phone can be used to make the calls.
While some recordings tell the stories behind funky stones like a scale-model replica of a man's prized race car, others describe the backbreaking work that made Barre a leading manufacturing center for granite products. One carver's monument from the 1930s shows him dying from silicosis, after years of inhaled stone dust scarred his lungs.
"It's a very, very poignant memorial," Ibey said.
The grave markers here reflect the personalities of their owners and the pride of a region that chiseled a national reputation from Vermont granite. Being able to share those stories with more visitors through this technology proves there's a lot of life in the old Hope Cemetery.
The "Guide by Cell" maps are available at the Rock of Ages visitors' center in Graniteville, VT, just outside of downtown Barre.