✣ Huff's Church ✣
Welcome to KeyStoneWillow, an account created to share my photography of local cemeteries in eastern PA (there will be some out-of-state exceptions, however 😁). I’m an appreciator of gravestone art, the older the better, and hope to document some beautiful and interesting headstones. This blog corresponds to my Instagram account of the same name. I wanted a place able to include more written content, which allows me to group all information regarding the same location into one blog entry. Having functional links is also a definite bonus. The first cemetery I’m featuring here is located at Huff’s Church in Alburtis, PA.I noticed this cemetery on my way home from visiting the Sacred Oak in Oley. It was a fine autumn day so I decided to stop for some photos. The two keystones on the main church building state 1815 and 1881 respectively, but according to their website, “over 200 interments were made [in the cemetery] before 1815” which leads church historians to deduce that the congregation itself is much older. There are some lovely headstones here, most in great condition, including some with my favorite willow tree motifs and a few designs which harken back to Fraktur. This styling is not surprising as Pennsylvania Germans settled this area. Many older stones are, in fact, in German. However, there are also more recent, ornate stones which seem typical of Victorian-era graves.
A few, mostly pre-1860, headstones featuring willow trees and a distinctly PA German flavor. The vignette on the first stone depicts a mourner at the graveside, which may be one of the first I’ve seen in my area, although urns and willows by themselves are fairly commonplace. ➺ 1: Catharina Baus (1795-1864)
➺ 2: Samuel Rosch (1816-1853)
➺ 3: James Huber (1828-1851)
➺ 4: Philip Hertzog (1777-1855)
➺ 5: Elizabeth Moyer (1786-1870)
➺ 6: John Baus (1810-1859)
A few post-1860 headstones which are more typical of the ornate, Victorian style of that period. These gravestones tend to be more dimensional and deeply-carved than earlier ones. The last stone features a design on the base that looks almost Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican, but I suspect it’s a maker’s mark of some kind. ➺ 1: Friedrich Sigmund (1807-1860)
➺ 2: Amanda Hartlein (1848-1862)
➺ 3: James Mensch (1856-1862)
➺ 4: Carl Heinrich Fischer (1828-1860)
➺ 5: Margaritha Bittenbender (1786-1852)
➺ 6: John Moll (1835-1874)
➺ 7: Cora Agnes Gerhart (1832-1832)
➺ 8: Samuel DeLong (1831-1895)
Beautiful details on two Victorian-era headstones. ➺ 1: Johannes Baus (1821-1884)
➺ 2: Sarah Bittenbender (1829-1895) ✣ 540 Conrad Road Alburtis, PA 18011 • Hereford Township, Berks County ✣
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