Tombstone Tuesday--Oak Grove Cemetery

Oak Grove cemetery is located in the south east quadrant of Newaygo County. It is only a couple miles from Muskegon River, which was early beacon for loggers. According to our transcript from Oak Grove, the earliest grave is for Lydia Boon, who died in July 1968. The transcript also states that that the fact that she was the first burial was confirmed by G. E. G. Wonch's diary. Overall the cemetery has a very restful appearance, even it if may show signs in these pictures of needing a mowing and weeding.
Obviously this is grave is for a much more recent burial. A close up taken of the stone behind the owl says the grave is for daughter Frances L. Tallman, August 2 1921, to June 22 1994.
This picture below caught my eye for several reasons. First off all is the stone in the background with the figure of a mourning woman on the top. the stone is massive and yet so poignant. A closeup of the stone from the other side says only Dufort. The next thing that caught my eye about the picture were the two stone baskets, as I call them. My great-grands, buried north of Newaygo county, in a very rocky part of the state also have them and I think they are so unique. These are of different construction. It appears that the cement was first molded and there is much more than on others I have seen. There also seems to be a separate stone studded base for each of them. I marvel at the great condition. Perhaps someone removes them during the winter months, to prevent cracking. The other item of mention in this picture is the pink granite obelisk type stone. You seldom see these stones made of that material.
In this picture you can easily see the five individual stones. Not so easy to see however is the large family stone. I think a little brush cutting is in order here, as the stone seems to be in the middle of its little forest.
As you can see in this picture, the cemetery is in a rural setting in Croton township. The types of stones, as well as the huge trees all attest to the age of the cemetery.
This poor old stone has clearly seen better days. Not only is the writing nearly impossible to read, but it has apparently broken off and been reset behind the original base. I am not sure what the brown chunks are. Perhaps other broken bits from the base? But the base looks fairly intact, so I don't know.
You can see here that this is a fairly large cemetery. And again, the large trees and varied stones that are here.
This shows the stone of Elmira, wife of A. Bills. Broken, but even so, what a marvelous stone. The hand pointing to heaven and the beautiful scroll work on the sides. Perhaps the stone it is leaning on is the bottom of the stone. I wonder about the post next to the Elmira's stone. Fluted corners make it appear to be a monument of some kind, perhaps a broken obelisk type. but its such a small diameter.
Did I mention that perhaps some weeding was in order? This look like brush that needs to trimmed. The stone for the Crow family is almost lost.
Last of all, a glimpse of the beautiful setting for the cemetery. And clearly seen also are the cement borders for some of the plots. Such wonderful spot for the final rest.