The Harper Mausoleum and George W. Harper Memorial Entrance are a pair of funerary structures in the village cemetery at Cedarville, Ohio, United States. Commemorating one of Cedarville's wealthiest nineteenth-century citizens, they have together been named a historic site because of their distinctive Egyptian-style design.
George W. Harper
George W. Harper was born in 1825 into a family who had emigrated from Harper's Ferry, Virginia in 1812. Upon reaching the age of eighteen, after attending the common schools, Harper entered into business dealing cattle in Illinois and became wealthy. Having united into marriage in 1860, he and his wife joined the ranks of Greene County's largest landowners; by 1881, their estate comprised approximately 1,100 acres (450 ha), and they resided in Cedarville's finest dwelling. Harper also owned a bank in Cedarville, the George W. Harper Banking Company, which operated until being bought out by the Exchange Bank in 1896. The Harpers became educational benefactors: soon after Cedarville College was founded by the New Light Reformed Presbyterian Church circa 1900, the Harpers donated $5,000 to the college to endow a chair in economics.
Mausoleum and cemetery entrance
Harper is commemorated post mortem by two structures in the Cedarville cemetery. Built in 1915, the entrance gateway to the cemetery and a family mausoleum in this rural cemetery are significant examples of Egyptian Revival architecture; some of their motifs evoke ancient Egyptian concepts of the afterlife, including two sphinxes. Built of granite on stone foundations, The two are connected by the cemetery's main drive, which extends from the entrance at the gateway to a circular drive surrounding the knoll upon which the mausoleum is located. Harper's mausoleum includes structural elements such as columns whose capitals feature palm leaves, a cornice with a design of a vulture and sun disk, and lotus flowers are depicted on the double bronze doors to the mausoleum. The gateway consists of granite posts supporting cast iron gates and topped with large granite spheres.
Protection
In 1988, the Harper Mausoleum and Memorial Entrance were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places. Although cemetery properties are typically not eligible for inclusion on the National Register, exceptions can be made for distinctively designed cemetery components, and the Harper structures were deemed to be important examples of early 20th century mortuary architecture, and additional significance arises from their place at the heart and at the entrance to the cemetery: they produce a sense of place in cemetery visitors. The properties are one of two Cedarville locations on the National Register, along with the village opera house on Main Street downtown.
Upon his death in 1908 he was laid to rest in Cedarville’s North Cemetery. His wife Vinna, along with the architects at the George Dodds and Sons Granite Company began constructing the Egyptian Revival mausoleum. The mausoleum was completed in 1915 only one year before Vinna died. She also donated the Veterans’ Memorial that stands at the cemetery, in honor of her husband.
Now for the requirements for this virtual cache:
Message the following answers to claim your find.
At Stage 1 - Look on the back of the mausoleum and and message us the 4 numbers you find.
At stage 2 - look under the angel in the front of the memorial and tell us the 4 numbers you find there as well.
and finally - post a picture of your gps or something else you find interesting at this site.
We hope you enjoy our small sampling of Egyptian Revival architecture in the little old village of Cedarville.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.