✣ Old Goshenhoppen Reformed ✣
I was introduced to this cemetery via a post on @thedailyantiquarian’s account, where the log and stone Gemeinhaus was featured. Built in 1723, it served as the congregation’s original building for worship and school services and has been lovingly restored. The current church building, dating from 1858, features multiple inlaid stones from other, older structures formerly on the site. The cemetery is still in use, and although I did not include any photos of the modern headstones, there are some interesting ones including a gravestone in the shape of a large cartoon frog and a granite angel. This is the first cemetery I’ve featured in Montgomery County, and I’m looking forward to exploring more. ➺ Old Goshenhoppen Reformed Church History
➺ Find A Grave
With the early date of the Gemeinhaus, I was hoping to find many colonial era headstones in the cemetery, but initially I was disappointed. I anticipated they would be in a group near to that structure in keeping with many other cemeteries where the oldest stones are clustered together, close to the church, but this was not the case. Instead, the oldest stones are scattered in a wider area, interspersed among newer ones. In contrast to the later, marble memorials, most of the earlier ones are carved from a reddish mineral. I’ve decided to present most of them in color instead of my typical black-and-white as I feel desaturating them reduces their charm and detail.
Philipp Gabel’s memorial is both imposing and intriguing. It’s one of the tallest headstones in that section of the graveyard and prominently features a skull and crossbones. Death’s heads are a common motif on the colonial era headstones in New England, but they are much rarer in my area of Pennsylvania. The other symbols on the stone, including the All Seeing Eye or Eye of Providence, lead me to believe Mr. Gabel was likely a Freemason or member of another secretive fraternal order. Unfortunately I could not find much information on him, although Find A Grave indicates he served as Elder and Treasurer for the Lutheran congregation. If you have any additional insights as to the symbolism on this gravestone, I would love to know more about it!
“Tread gently for beneath this sod sleep many whose names are forgot.” A collection of miscellaneous headstones which caught my attention, including a few willows. ✣ 2092 Church Road Woxall, PA 18979 (also listed as Harleysville, PA 19438) • Upper Salford Township, Montgomery County ✣
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