Woman in Repose
Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis, Indiana
June 30, 2020
Like most beautiful cemeteries (and asylums) I can spend hours within, Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, a National Historical Place, was established in the mid-1800’s. I explored most of its 555 acres with my rental car because the heat was unbearable. But I ran out of the car like 600 times.
Of course there was a certain patina-ed lady I was enamored by before setting foot inside–the collapsed figured at Albertina May Forrest’s monument. I needed to know who Albertina was and I needed to know whose heartache commissioned such a stunning sculpture. It was her husband Jacob D. Forrest, who rests next to her in an unmarked grave.
Jacob and Albertina were married 1897 when he was 33 and she was 28, older than typical for the times, but they both acquired advanced degrees. They were both professors Butler College in Indianapolis and never had children. Albertina died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 31 while vacationing in Sea Breeze, Florida with Jacob. He was devastated. A heartbreak that seemed to stay with him the rest of his life despite having a lot of success and marrying twice more. His second marriage would be unconsummated–to his sister-in-law–as a means share residence with her after her mother passed. The marriage was annulled. In 1915, eleven years after Albertina’s death, Jacob married the daughter of a publisher. When he died in 1930 he was buried next to Albertina. It is unclear why he is in an unmarked grave having established a high academic status and achieving many accomplishments. Though I believe it it has to do with his love. And he would forgo the recognition of attaining professional milestones to simply rest next to Albertina nameless.
I was motivated to find more about Albertina and Jacob after I realized I had by-chance photographed their residence after picking up my morning coffee in the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis (!!) It is now the Irvington United Methodist Church. (source) The happenstance connection had me all sorts of excited. So I dove even deeper, as I’m wont to do. Jacob published Essays on Philosophy & Life, Albertina’s essays, in 1904. It made for good reading as I waited for true night to come to start my night shoot.
The former Forrest residence
Goodbye Albertina. Onward to other monuments!
These wings were my fave
There is no end to things in the heart…
…and yet…
Three’s company
🙁
This was a butta face… but nice wings!
Thoreau is a hero of mine ❤️
When sculpture goes terribly wrong…
What you lookin’ at?
This is just a small slither of what I saw in Indianapolis. But my day ain’t over. Benefitting from moving into the Central timezone, I have rested and now I am ready for a night shoot. Wish me luck!