The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-07-17
GRAVES OF THE PRESIDENTS,
Where Washington Sleeps-The Tomb Of
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF Jefer"
sons G~rave-Other NEGLECTED. Tombs.

sons GrnVe-Other Ne&lectou IoWp5'
Congress having granted an appro-
priation for the erection of a monu-
ment wei the tomb of Jefferson, and q
similar appropriation being sought for
that of Taylor, it occurred to the
New York Worldt to prepare and publish
an article descriptive of the places
where the seventeen deceased presidents
of the United States repose ; and a very
interesting account it is. Tyler's grave
is without O mark to indicate it, and
those of some of the others are conspic-
uously neglected.
Every American, of course, is
familiar with Mount Vernon, Va,
by actual sight or description.
The tomb is a roomy brick vault, with
an arched roof, and very substantial.
Through an iron gate two sarcophagi
are seen. On a marble tablet in its
arch is the inscription /: "Within this
enclosure rest the remains OF General
George Washington" The cofins,
which lie in the open vestibule of the
vault proper, are Of Pennsylvania
marble that Of Washington bears an
American shield, the other but two
words, "Martha Washington" A few
feet behind them is the vault door, bear
ing the inscription, II am the resur-
rection and the life /; he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live"
John Adams and John Quincy Adams
sleep side by side beneath the Unitar.
ian church at Quincy, Mass. The
tomb is an apartment in the front part
of the cellar under the church, walled
in with large blocks of roughly-faced
granite. A granite slab, seven feet by
three, with q huge clasp and paddock,
and massive hinges Of wrought iron, all
red with rust, forms the door. Within
the bodies lie in leaden caskets, placed
within cases ench hewn from a single
block of stone. The brick furnace for
heating the church is close to the door,
and the dim and dusty vault, which is
rarely visited, serves as a store-room fol-
light wagons, sleighs and such property.
On the right Of the pulpit Gas you face
it,, in the church above, is the memor.
ial tablet to the elder Adams, and OF
his wife, of slightly clouded marble,
seven feet by four, surmounted by.a
life-sized bust. The inscription on the
tablet is too long for reproduction here.
On the other side of. the pulpit is the
tablet Of John Quincy Adams and his
wife.
The grave of Thomas Jefferson is in 9
thick growth of woods, a few hundred
yards to the right of the embowered
road leading to Charlottesville, Va, up
to Monticello. The spot is as lonesome
as lovers of solitude could desire. Its
thirty graves are partly enclosed by q
brick wall about one hundred feet
Square and ten feet high, which on the
south side has been toppled over bodily,
and now lies in level courses OF brick
and crumbling mortar level with the
ground. On the north and west sides
are iron gates, red and locked with rust.
The west wall is clad with a scanty
growth of Virginia creepers; a single
bush of eglantine springs amid the matted
grass and weeds, loose bricks and stones
That v the whole Enclosure. Midway
along the northern wall Wormley, Jefer.
sons old servant, who survived himtwen'
ty-fve years, dug hismaster's grave IN
the spot his master had indicated,
but the mound has been trodden leve
with the earth. At it's head was placed
a coarse granite obelisk nine feet ligh,
resting on a base three feet square,
Not an inch of its surface but has beer
Clipped and battered by the relic seeker
till from base to apex the corners pre-
sent the appearance of o rough hewr
stone. The sole inscription not ham
mered away is in small letters on the
base: "Born, April 2, 0. s., 1742
Died, July 4, 1896"
James Madison lies buried on the
place which he owned at the time of hit
death, at Montpelier, Va. The graceful
shaft over his grave is in the center of 9
large field, in q lot about one hundred
feet square, surrounded by a substantial
brick wall five feet high. Within the
enclosure is Madison's resting-place, 6
neatly-turfed mound, over which rises te
the height of twenty feet, from q pedes
tai of four pieces, a slender and graceful
obelisk, bearing the inscription, "Madi
son, born March Is, 1751." By it's side
is o smaller shaft in memory of his wife
The remains of James Monroe sleeE
in Hollywood cemetery, at Richmond,
Virginia, at a point from which the eye
can take in a great part of the city
The plot is 804 feet area, and wal
bought by Gov. Wise for the state
Monroe died, in New York, in 1881, au6
it was not until twenty-seven years hat
elapsed that his body was removed t.
Richmond. The seventh New Yorl
regiment acted as an escort, and the re
mains we're deposited with great cere
mony in the place they now occupy
This is q vault OF brick and granite, fv'
feet underground. The covering is
huge block of polished marble, on which
rests the sarcophagus, q granite blocl
wrought into the shape of q coffin. o.
one side of this is a long and suitable in
scription. Over and around this ODD
monument is a gothic structure, twelv'
feet long, nine feet wide and twenty fee
high, four pillars supporting a peaket
roof.
Andrew Jackson's home was the Her
mitage, eleven miles from Nashville
Tenn. In q corner of the garden, eight.
yards from the dwelling, lie the grea
president and his wife, under q MASSIVE
monument of Tennessee limestone
Three steps conduct to its surface, q cir
cular area eighteen feet in diameter
from which spring eight futed Dori
columns, supporting a pretty though
plain entablature and dome, surmountet
by an urn. Within the ceiling and cor
nice are ornamented in white stucco. II
the center of the platform is a pyrami'
resting on a square; on the left is a stop.
Just wei the body of the president, witt
this inscription: General Andrew
Jackson, born March Is, 1767, die
June 8, 1845."
The grave of Martin Van Buren, is il
the northeastern corner of the cemeter.
at Undertook, Columbia county, thi
State. The Van Buren, lot is crowded
with graves, is unfenced, and withou
even a border to mark its boundaries O
a flower or shrub for adornment. Tn
ex.president's grave is in the center o
the plot. Above it rises a plain granit'
shaft, fifteen feet high. About hal
way up on one face is the name of tht
deceased, with the date of his birth ant
of his death.
The ashes of William Henry Harrison
the occupant for only Il month of tn
presidents chair, repose, with those o
his wife and children, in a plain: brlcl
vault on the summit of a hillock at Nortl
Bend, Ohio, fifteen miles west OF Din