Gardens of Stone --- A Cemetery Blog by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca

  Edwin Lister, born in England, served as president of the Lister Agricultural Chemical Works, a fertilizer company founded in 1850, which he operated alongside his brother, Alfred. Their business began in Tarrytown before moving to Newark, NJ. The company’s plant--which produced bone fertilizers, bone black, glue, grease, and other chemical products-- spanned 18 acres and employed over 450 workers. Their products achieved recognition and distribution worldwide, earning the company a reputation for excellence in the field. His monument in one of the most stunning in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. 

  Standing as a prominent symbol of wealth and remembrance, the Rockefeller mausoleum crowns the cemetery's highest point. William Rockefeller (1841-1922) co-founded Standard Oil (now Exxon) with his brother John. He commissioned this mausoleum for his wife, Almira, after her death in 1920. The couple lived nearby in Rockwood Hall, a 204-room mansion on Albany Post Road. Welles Bosworth, a distinguished architect trained at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, designed the mausoleum. Bosworth also led the architecture for the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. The mausoleum features a classical revival style. Bronze doors and engaged Ionic columns (columns attached to walls with spiral capitals) highlight this design. It also has a pyramid-shaped roof and large monolithic wall stones (single, massive stone blocks).  On the lower step of the stylobate—the platform base of the structure—appears the Rockefeller name, signifying the family's legacy.  Together, these elements giv...