Graffiti Wall, Coal Tower, Charlottesville

Open in a larger window

Spring Snow here. . . Walking down the tracks below C-vlle, I came across this stark shrub against the graffiti on the coal tower. Some pics are best in black and white.

The coal tower could very well be an icon for the Charlottesville Downtown. Some businesses have used the image of it from time to time. It’s a wonderful piece of funk, with a somewhat dark history, not the sort of notion that would encourage using it as a brand. It still exists probably because of the difficulty of removing it. It has occasionally been used as an art piece. There’s about 15 foot tall tower of steel cross members on the top. Someone made a huge dress and hung it there. All dressed up and nowhere to go.

Photograph from Maplewood Cemetary, Charlottesville, Va.

Yesterday I was wandering through Maplewood Cemetery in Charlottesville. It’s one of the oldest, and it has a sense of decay that is entirely appropriate. Nature is doing what it does best, which is to patiently turn everything back into soil.
There are a few “stones” there that are a bit more ambitious. One is an angel (perhaps the model was a girl of 15?). It’s really well done as far as features and gestures are concerned. I noticed that someone had tied onion grass around her hand so it looked like a thin green bracelet. See photo above.
I ended up taking quite a few shots which I'll post here in the next few days.
The City of Charlottesville has had a particularly good web site, and their page on Maplewood Cemetary is a good source of history for Maplewood.