The mystery of the Coondog Cemetery headstone coins

by Staff
5 comments

IMG_1904TUSCUMBIA- The Mystery of The Coondog Cemetery coins on the headstones started when coins started appearing on top of the headstones at the Coondog Cemetery southwest of Tuscumbia about six months before the 75th anniversary in 2012.   In addition to various coins, replicas of service medals were also left.

 

The tradition in the USA dates back to Benjamin Franklin, but goes back further in ancient culture long before the practice of leaving flowers.  The ancient Greeks would leave money on graves to be used by the deceased to pay the ferryman Charon for passage across the river Styx.  The belief was those without money would wander the banks for all eternity, not able to cross.

 

IMG_1982Roman culture believed that dropping a coin and making a wish would ask the deceased person’s help.  Romans usually IMG_1887buried their dead with coins inside the mouths because they believe the deceased had to pay a Dead Oarman to cross Deads River under the earth.

 

In other cultures, coins were left on grave markers as a sign that the deceased was well-loved and respected and to let others know that the grave had been visited.   Others believed that a coin left on a headstone was a way of acting a favor of the deceased or help in solving a problem or acquiring goods.

In this country, the tradition of leaving pennies on the grave dates back to Benjamin Franklin’s funeral.  His grave was covered in pennies left by an estimated twenty thousand who came from around the country to pay their respect.  Even today visitors will toss a coin through a protective fence over to his grave.

Some believe that leaving pennies on a grave is a symbol of the words on the coin: “In God We Trust.”

IMG_1842In the military, the tradition of leaving coins dating back to the Roman Empire became popular during the Vietnam War.  With the political climate in the sixties and seventies, those who served  in the war were called baby killers.  It was used as a means to let family and friends of the fallen that someone had been there to pay respects without direct contact.   Each denomination of coin held a different message to let the family know who the visitor was.  A penny indicated that a friend or an acquaintance visited.    A nickel was someone who had gone through boot camp, or trained with the fallen soldier.    Someone that served in another platoon in the same company would leave a dime.  A quarter meant that the visitor would be someone that served in the same outfit, or was with the soldier when they died.  Some veterans would leave a coin to buy their fallen comrades a beer or to play a hand of cards when they are reunited.

 

Lastly there is the legend of the Donnelly’s, better known as the Black Donnelly’s, an Irish-Canadian family known for the brutal massacre of a rival family.  The legend statesIMG_1847 that the family will grant the wish of anyone who leaves a coin on their tombstone.   An alternate superstition posted on the Donnelly home page  is that anyone who owes money to a person who died will be haunted by that person’s ghost unless money is place on the deceased’s tombstone before midnight.  I would guess that would be the day of burial.

 

IMG_2302All in all, those who leave coins on the headstones at the Coondog cemetery do so to pay their respects to those buried and to let others that they had visited.

 

Another mystery to solve now is the meaning of a rock on top of the headstone. butterfly

 

Still another is what would posses a sixty year old woman who has already had back surgery and a knee replacement to chase a butterfly around downhill in the rain and mud, in a poncho that made her look like a pregnant pumpkin?

 

coodog cemetery signCoondogIMG_1829IMG_1911IMG_1984IMG_1987

 

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5 comments

Janice M. Williams September 5, 2013 - 2:05 pm

Love this! Signed the Coondog Lady

Reply
Patricia Reid July 17, 2015 - 6:28 pm

Very cool. I don’t know exactly why there are coins on the graves and headstones of the coon dogs buried there, but it’s very touching and appropriate.

Reply
Georgia Sechrest September 4, 2015 - 8:24 pm

Thanks for sharing this info. Love the Coondog Cemetery.

Reply
Honi Gottlieb September 5, 2015 - 8:30 am

To answer the Rock on the headstone question ..I found this on the website southern Graves….

Rabbi Andrew Straus offers the following: “Ritual is a way of expressing our emotions and spiritual needs. We need physical acts to express these things for us, to make them concrete. Placing a stone on a grave does just that…(1) It is a sign to others who come to the grave when I am not there that they and I are not the only ones who remember. The stones I see on the grave when I come are a reminder to me that others have come to visit the grave. My loved one is remembered by many others and his/her life continues to have an impact on others, even if I do not see them. (2) When I pick up the stone it sends a message to me. I can still feel my loved one. I can still touch and be touched by him/her. I can still feel the impact that has been made on my life. Their life, love, teachings, values, and morals still make an impression on me. When I put the stone down, it is a reminder to me that I can no longer take this person with me physically. I can only take him/her with me in my heart and my mind and the actions I do because he/she taught me to do them. Their values, morals, ideals live on and continue to impress me – just as the stone has made an impression on my hands – so too their life has made an impression on me that continues.”

So do all these explanations mean placing a rock on a tombstone is only a Jewish custom? While I would consider it likely when visiting a gravestone with rocks placed on it, it may not always be the case.

Cemetery symbolism author Douglas Keister reminds us, “In Christian lore, rocks are a powerful symbol of the Lord.” There are many places in the Old Testament Bible that compare God to a rock. One being Psalm 18:2 — “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

So the placing of a rock on a tombstone could represent a belief that the deceased is with God.

Keister further states, “In almost all cultures, rocks represent permanence, stability, reliability, and strength.”

All in all, placing and finding rocks on a tombstone is a nice tradition. Whatever the culture or religious faith, the rocks represent an honorable memory of the deceased.

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Karon Tuttle September 26, 2015 - 9:15 pm

Karon Tuttle September 24th 2015 We went to see the cemetery, and loved everything about it. We never new what it meant about the coins until I looked it up. It dates back to the Roman times. Very interesting. All dogs do go to heaven, even if they are not buried there. They are so dependent on us. People have their own way of sending their loved ones to heaven. I have always put a penny in the shirt pocket or under the hands of my loved ones. Kind of the same thing.

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