Recently, I was given the opportunity to carve a memorial honoring the multitude of unknown souls intered at Gladwyne Jewish cemetery located in Gladwyne, Pa.
Consecrated in 1890 as "Har Hasetim Jewish cemetery" it soon became known as the prominent resting place for many Jewish families residing in Philadelphia during the late 1800's.
With the rear of the stone now completly "rock faced" the next step was to start working on the two base stones needed to support this main stone.
Once I received the proper wording from Beth David congregation I went to work on the preliminary drawing shown below.
In 1890 the cemetery was composed of 20 acres with the majority of the land laying on a downward sloping hill.
As the 1900's were approaching the suburbs were beginning to expand bringing in more modern and accessible cemeteries leaving Har Hasetim in a diminishing state. By 1910 it was transforming more into a poverty cemetery.
The last known person interred into the cemetery was this WW2 Navy seaman in 1945 shown below.
With no burials since 1945 the cemetery fell into disrepair, becoming overgrown and impassable to the point of practically disappearing into the forrest and underbrush.
Fast forward to the present finds the cemetery has been reduced in size over the past century to about three acres. It is now being cared for by neighboring Beth David Reform Congregation who has made it their mission to find and record the names of any grave sites that can be identified.
My involvement began after seeing a local news story about the cemetery and its history which sparked my interest to reach out to Beth David Reform Congregation to see how I could help out.
The committee overseeing the restoration came back to me with a plan to create a memorial stone to honor all those countless souls never to be identified.
I jumped at chance to be part of this endeavor and even offered to donate a few pieces of Vermont white marble that had been stored behind my shop realizing they would be the perfect stone for such an honorable project.
Here's how it all began with these raw blocks seen below.
The rear and the sides of the memorial were given a heavy chiseled "rock face" finish, while the front of the stone would remain smooth for the proper V cut lettering.
Lettering of the dedication dates 2025 and 5785 the current year on the Hebrew calendar.
The next step was draw the lettering onto the main face and start the V cut chiseling.
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Click link the below showing video of how I chiseled much of the stone.
