“This Stone has Something Great to Teach”: Epitaphs, Literature, and Belief in Early New England

Abstract: Epitaphs on early New England gravestones provide an extensive record of eighteenth-century attitudes towards life, death, and eternity; this essay describes the breadth of archival material they contain. It argues that the choice of epitaph was a purposeful element of contemporary response to dying and death: these messages were intended to be taken to heart by surviving family and community. It identifies the literature people used to find words to process dying and death, and shows the epitaphs articulating a range of attitudes towards death, from awed anxiety and pious doubt to joyful hope, coexisting simultaneously.