Rosehill Cemetery

Finally paid a visit to Rosehill, though I'd much rather be buried in Graceland , which has so many more spectacular monuments and sculpture.

But Rosehill does have a few, including the above stately portrait (regretfully, I neglected to record the sculptor's name)

Also regretfully, I went on a gray, overcast day, and these dark pieces badly need sunlight.

Here's a self portrait by one of the city's earliest sculptors, Leonard Volk (1828-1895), who was also a founding member of the Chicago Academy of Design

(I couldn't find it, but there was no sunlight anyway -- so here's a very good photo taken by someone else)

Here's some more of Volk's work, at the base of a tall, civil war memorial column.

Volk was not so hot at heroic, architectural design -- but this isolated soldier feels like a little window into the reality of 1860's Chicago.

Graceland has many more and better crypts surrounding it's more scenic pond.

But this one is so charming - and I love how old Cyrus Miller chose an oriental design. (BTW -- I had a great uncle in Iowa named Cyrus. He was a prosperous farmer, but I don't think he could afford something like this)

This lion belongs in an amusement park - but at least the cemetery had a lion. (actually, there were a pair)

Here's a charming Roman temple - but it looks better at a distance than close up.