Post by Cassiel on Feb 1, 2009 5:09:13 GMT -6
The Coquille town cemetery is a baroque piece of architecture. Technically the cemetery for Coos county, Willowrest Cemetery also manages to draw in a fairly decent tourist trade. Or at least it did. A while back the townsfolk of Coquille complained that it was macabre and disrespectful to put their dead on display. These days, Willowrest Cemetery stands solitary and serene in the middle of the western weald of Coquille, only visited by the bored youth of the town.
Willowrest Cemetery and its grounds proper are surrounding by a great stone fence, a pentagonal wall stretching around the whole enclosure. The wall is crowned by beautiful wrought ironworks, to unsuccessfully keep out intruders. Three gates mark the entrence into the cemetery, though one of the gates has a thick padlock and chain on it. Once inside the curtain wall, the rolling green hills of Willowrest are idyllic. Their true purpose is told by the gray and black tombstones that press up from the ground, the memorial plaques set into the emerald wash of the fields, and the gorgeous vaults and mausoleums bunched in the center of the graveyard.
Willows and other somber trees provide shade to the resting dead, while the other flora of the cemetery tends to be low bushes and flowers left for the departed. A stone pathway leads from the gate into the center of the graveyard, where a courtyard holds the largest tombs and vaults. Statues of all shapes, sizes, and styles adorn this archway bedecked interior. Stone benches and gazebos provide rest and succor for weary mourners. A fountain trickles lazily in the afternoon, water pouring from the trio of stone fish in the center.
Go to Willowrest Cemetery
Willowrest Cemetery and its grounds proper are surrounding by a great stone fence, a pentagonal wall stretching around the whole enclosure. The wall is crowned by beautiful wrought ironworks, to unsuccessfully keep out intruders. Three gates mark the entrence into the cemetery, though one of the gates has a thick padlock and chain on it. Once inside the curtain wall, the rolling green hills of Willowrest are idyllic. Their true purpose is told by the gray and black tombstones that press up from the ground, the memorial plaques set into the emerald wash of the fields, and the gorgeous vaults and mausoleums bunched in the center of the graveyard.
Willows and other somber trees provide shade to the resting dead, while the other flora of the cemetery tends to be low bushes and flowers left for the departed. A stone pathway leads from the gate into the center of the graveyard, where a courtyard holds the largest tombs and vaults. Statues of all shapes, sizes, and styles adorn this archway bedecked interior. Stone benches and gazebos provide rest and succor for weary mourners. A fountain trickles lazily in the afternoon, water pouring from the trio of stone fish in the center.
Go to Willowrest Cemetery