The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry

Richard Hampton Jenrette Series in Architecture and the Decorative Arts

by Daniel W. Patterson

A thousand unique gravestones cluster around old Presbyterian churches in the piedmont of the two Carolinas and in central Pennsylvania. Most are the vulnerable legacy of three generations of the Bigham family, Scotch Irish stonecutters whose workshop near Charlotte created the earliest surviving art of British settlers in the region. In The True Image, Daniel Patterson documents the craftsmanship of this group and the current appearance of the stones. In two hundred of his photographs, he records these stones for future generations and compares their iconography and inscriptions with those of other early monuments in the United States, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Combining his reading of the stones with historical records, previous scholarship, and rich oral lore, Patterson throws new light on the complex culture and experience of the Scotch Irish in America. In so doing, he explores the bright and the dark sides of how they coped with challenges such as backwoods conditions, religious upheavals, war, political conflicts, slavery, and land speculation. He shows that headstones, resting quietly in old graveyards, can reveal fresh insights into the character and history of an influential immigrant group.

Genres: Folklore, Art

495 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2012

Reviews

[B. Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this out of my currently-reading list, so I decided today was the day I was going to power through it. After an hour of reading, and admittedly, skimming, I was still only 20% in. After that I started skimming actively and only slowing down when I found particular areas of interest.

The author obviously did his research, BUT when I got this book I expected a tight study about a specific family of stonecutters and what made their stones unique. What I got was the family, yes, but also everyone else they may have ever come into contact with as well as those peoples' families, their houses, what they owned when they died, and so forth. (Not to mention the chapter about settler and indigenous people clashes, with the Bighams barely mentioned.) It was too much information. I was not nearly invested enough in this to plod my way through all of that.

Also, the information was presented in a circular fashion. I was never quite sure who we were talking about, and people I thought were discussed thoroughly came back in later subjects. Like, Devil Charlie Polk - I liked the section about his pranks and his violin, but then he came up nearly 30% later and I couldn't help but wonder why. It got to be too much.

All in all, thorough research, but way too much for a more casual reader.