<p>During the 1750s and 1760s, a stone carver in Hampton, Connecticut created a number of bizarre gravestones in the town and in a few other neighboring communities. He abruptly stopped producing these stones after 1769, but then in the 1770s his work started to appear some 60 miles away in the Western Massachusetts towns of Becket and Worthington. </p> <p>Until now, his identity has eluded gravestone scholars, who dubbed him the &quot;Hampton Indian&quot; because the feathered wings on the stones bear some resemblance to a Native American headdress. This episode explores the style of his gravestone carvings, his sources of inspiration, and a theory as to his identity, which is based on several key pieces of circumstantial evidence.</p> <p>For further reading on New England gravestones and carvers, I would highly recommend:</p> <p><em></em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Colonial-Burying-Grounds-Connecticut-Sciences/dp/0208021604" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>Colonial Burying Grounds of Eastern Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them</em></a> by Dr. James A. Slater</p> <p><a href="https://archive.org/details/gravestonesofear00forb_0/page/n7/mode/2up" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>Gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who Made Them</em></a> by Harriette Merrifield Forbes </p> <p><em></em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Graven-Images-England-Stonecarving-1650-1815/dp/0819560405/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3LUCDRJ6PSGW3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VKxjKj3Iw7VmpWlVj0t_KKZP0CgNb2STjgNJffZsSlfwCydErgLG2KbqdIbBpJGKuttIoL53ShpMTMF_Neht3hOahRcv5F9B340t7I0Q5fMPBI6FxAhSImegjviD52XjgctgQANvJ1orLz8BJuAyKahFmsqB2uSQNMy5Q7BJ5i-KyD0q6IEnLZ7sOA8JYTtPQWtSTqEnTSvTcJYEB0AOMb9JrSP5DugqhbkK9i_LY1s2QIMGTlM4mpiWlje37A_tdgeIYOudliGYFBoQimQ2HgZN6MpmyO181s7TXn0HbUk.j4SdhRVisumdbVCIHnzC1IwrJgr2TKpe3JHanr6JXrU&dib_tag=se&keywords=graven+images&qid=1717989191&s=books&sprefix=graven+images%2Cstripbooks%2C102&sr=1-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>Graven Images</em></a> by Allan Ludwig</p> <p><em></em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Masks-Orthodoxy-Gravestone-Massachusetts-1689-1805/dp/0870232371" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>The Masks of Orthodoxy</em></a> by Peter Benes</p> <p><em></em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Memorials-Children-Change-England-Stonecarving/dp/0819540617" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><em>Memorials for Children of Change: The Art of Early New England Stonecarving</em></a><em> </em>by Dickran and Ann Tashjian</p> <p><a href="https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Association+for+Gravestone+Studies%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Back issues of <em>Markers</em></a>, published by the Association for Gravestone Studies</p> <p><a href="http://www.davidrumsey.com/farber/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">The Farber Gravestone Collection</a></p> <p>And if you are interested in more of my content on New England gravestones, you can follow my account @gravestonesofnewengland on Instagram and Facebook.</p>