The Wooldridge Monuments are a series of historical monuments located in Maplewood Cemetery of

Mayfield, Kentucky Mayfield is a home rule–class city and the county seat of Graves County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 10,017 as of the 2020 United States Census. History 19th century Mayfield is in the center of the Jackson Purchase, an eig ...

. They were built for Colonel Henry G. Wooldridge, to commemorate family members and other loved ones of his life, from 1892 until Wooldridge's death on May 30, 1899.AIC Wooldridge is the only one buried at the site.Wells p.7.1 The lot has been called "The Strange Procession Which Never Moves".Reigler

History

In 1892, Wooldridge lost the last of his sisters, leaving him with no immediate family; he was a lifelong bachelor. This prompted him to buy a lot at Maplewood Cemetery. The monuments were gaining attention even in Wooldridge's lifetime, as represented in the November 7, 1897 issue of ''Republic''. Stories told of the monuments include the Minnie statue actually representing a childhood sweetheart whose early death due to horse riding prompted Wooldridge's bachelorhood (family records say it was of a niece) and that Wooldridge was such a miser that money was buried with him in his tomb.CoM Website

Description

The total area of the monuments are . All eighteen monuments face east, like most of the gravestones in Maplewood Cemetery. The most prominent is a life-size likeness of Wooldridge himself, a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

statue in the center of the site, made in Italy. Fourteen other monuments surrounding Wooldridge are made of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and have more rigid poses. The largest of these represent Wooldridge on his horse, named "Fop". The other limestone statues are tall on bases, and represent family members. Behind these are replicas of a fox, a deer, and two hounds chasing them; the dogs are unidentified on the statue but represent Wooldridge's dogs "Towhead" and "Bob". The statue makers, who hailed from Mayfield and Paducah, Kentucky, never before or after had a more "complex" or "ambitious" project. The female statues represent Wooldridge's mother Keziah, his sisters Minerva, Narcissa, and Susan, and his nieces Maud and Minnie. The male statues that are not of Wooldridge are of his brothers Alfred, John, Josiah, and W.H. There is no statue depicting Wooldridge's father. The fence around the lot was placed there by the Mayfield Masonic lodge, replacing the old iron fence.Wells p.7.2 Wooldridge was a Freemason.

Modern times

In September 1984 the monuments were featured on the TV show ''

Ripley's Believe It or Not ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' fea ...

''. To gain access to the monuments, one must go through another item on the National Register to get there, the Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield. On January 27, 2009, the monuments were damaged when a large tree in the cemetery fell as a result of an ice storm, breaking several of the heads. Only the statues of Wooldridge's sisters and a dog remained standing. City and County officials considered what to do to repair the damage to the monuments, one of the few tourist attractions for the city. Over the summer of 2010 all the monuments were restored on site by Monument Conservation Collaborative, a historic monument restoration firm based in Connecticut. On October 21, 2010, there was an official rededication of the monument as over a year's worth of repairs have been completed and all the statues are back in place.

Gallery

File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 southwest.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 Southeast.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 south.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 northwest.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 northeast.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 doggies.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage File:Wooldridge Monuments 2010 closeup.JPG, 2010 picture of the damage

References

External links

A LOOK AT MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY
City of Mayfield *Reigler, Susan
Mayfield: Remarkable monuments
'' Courier-Journal'' April 9, 2006 *{{cite book , author = Wells, Camille , title = Wooldridge Monuments NRHP Nomination Form , location =

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...

, publisher = Kentucky Heritage Commission , year = 1980 , isbn =
Wooldridge Monument: W. F. Wooldridge, (sculpture).
Art Inventories Catalog. Accessed November 1, 2008 Buildings and structures completed in 1892 National Register of Historic Places in Graves County, Kentucky Limestone statues Marble sculptures in Kentucky Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky 1892 sculptures 1892 establishments in Kentucky