Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early ... and the University of North Carolina Press)

by Douglas L. Winiarski

Funeral expenses increased sevenfold, as wealthy families distributed scarves and rings to pallbearers, financed the publication of broadside elegies, and sponsored lavish celebrations on behalf of the dead. Ornate gravestones depicting iconic winged skulls replaced the plain-style wooden posts of the seventeenth century.