Oddball: one of these things is not like the others

For probably my last blog about the cemetery (for this year), I’d like to take you on a brief tour.

Meet the Putnam family headstone:

I love that font. Very elegant. And don’t worry—individual Putnams are either listed on the reverse or accorded their own tiny stones around the family one. That’s not the point of this post.

Meet the Mischitellis:

I don’t know what to call that font but it reminds me of the Pre-Raphaelites for some reason. And the stone is nowhere near Pre-Raphaelite-era.

And the Lipperas.

Black granite would not be my first choice but this works very well. That’s not the point of this post, either.

Now, meet these folks:

And there’s the point of this post. A grave marker (pink granite obelisk atop concrete) with a punctuation mark.

As in “Period. End of sentence.”

Punctuation on a gravestone. Well, it is The End—for those Barrells, at any rate.

As I was driving out of the area, I passed a building with punctuation. I thought it was the same family, but no. Those were Bartletts. As in

(That’s from their website; it’s the same font that’s painted on the 1870 building, only a different color.)

With the grave marker, I’m thinking maybe the guy realized too late that he had extra room and threw in a period for balance. But I don’t think that excuse holds for whoever painted the “Bartlett House.” sign.

In any case, this concludes my series of blogs inspired by the cemetery. May all of the folks who inspired me rest in peace.

And may you enjoy finding business stories wherever you happen to be. That’s the point of these stories.

Period.