Wooldridge Monuments facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Wooldridge Monuments
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 Location in Kentucky
Location in the United States
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| Location | Maplewood Cemetery, Mayfield, Kentucky |
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| Built | 1892 |
| Architect | Paducah Marble Works; Pryor & Radford Monument Works |
| NRHP reference No. | 80001533 |
| Added to NRHP | August 11, 1980 |
The Wooldridge Monuments are a unique collection of statues found in Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky. Colonel Henry G. Wooldridge had them built to remember his family and other people he cared about. Construction started in 1892 and continued until he passed away on May 30, 1899. Interestingly, Colonel Wooldridge is the only person actually buried at this special site. People often call the area "The Strange Procession Which Never Moves" because of the many statues standing together.
Why Were They Built?
In 1892, Colonel Wooldridge lost his last sister. This meant he had no close family left, as he had never married. This sad event led him to buy a plot of land in Maplewood Cemetery. He then began creating these monuments to honor his loved ones.
Even while Colonel Wooldridge was alive, the monuments started to get attention. For example, a newspaper called Republic wrote about them in 1897. Some stories were told about the statues. One story said that a statue of a girl named Minnie was actually a childhood friend who died young. This sad event supposedly made Wooldridge decide never to marry. However, family records show that the Minnie statue was actually of his niece. Another story claimed that Wooldridge was very stingy and had money buried with him in his tomb.
What Do They Look Like?
The entire area where the monuments stand is about 17 feet wide and 33 feet long. All eighteen statues face east, just like most of the other gravestones in Maplewood Cemetery.
The most important statue is a life-size figure of Colonel Wooldridge himself. This 6-foot-tall statue is made of marble and stands in the middle of the site. It was created in Italy.
Around Wooldridge, there are fourteen other statues made from limestone. These statues have more serious poses. The largest of these shows Wooldridge riding his horse, named "Fop." The other limestone statues are 5 feet tall and stand on 3-foot-tall bases. These figures represent different members of his family.
Behind the family statues, you can see replicas of animals. There's a fox, a deer, and two hounds chasing them. The dogs on the statue aren't named, but they represent Wooldridge's own dogs, "Towhead" and "Bob." The artists who made these statues were from Mayfield and Paducah, Kentucky. They had never worked on such a "complex" or "ambitious" project before or since.
The female statues honor Wooldridge's mother, Keziah, and his sisters Minerva, Narcissa, and Susan. They also include his nieces, Maud and Minnie. The male statues, besides Wooldridge himself, are of his brothers Alfred, John, Josiah, and W.H. There is no statue of Wooldridge's father.
The fence around the monument area was put there by the Mayfield Masonic lodge. It replaced an older iron fence. Colonel Wooldridge was a member of the Freemasons, a well-known social group.
Modern History of the Monuments
In September 1984, the Wooldridge Monuments were even shown on the TV show Ripley's Believe It or Not! This helped make them even more famous.
To visit the monuments, you often pass through another historic site nearby: the Confederate Memorial Gates in Mayfield.
On January 27, 2009, the monuments were damaged during a big ice storm. A large tree in the cemetery fell, breaking the heads of several statues. Only the statues of Wooldridge's sisters and one dog remained standing. City and county officials had to decide how to fix the damage, as the monuments are one of the few tourist attractions in the city.
During the summer of 2010, all the monuments were carefully repaired right there at the site. A company from Connecticut, called Monument Conservation Collaborative, did the restoration work.
On October 21, 2010, there was a special ceremony to celebrate the monuments being fully restored. After more than a year of repairs, all the statues were back in their proper places.
Gallery
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Damage seen in 2010
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Damage seen in 2010
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Damage seen in 2010
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Damage seen in 2010
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Damage seen in 2010
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Damage seen in 2010
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Damage seen in 2010
- Reigler, Susan. Mayfield: Remarkable monuments Courier-Journal April 9, 2006
