In Mount Hope Cemetery in Hiawatha, Kansas, the Davis memorial is an elaborate expression of the love that John Milburn Davis had for his wife, Sarah. The couple were married for 50 years. When Sarah died in 1930 at the age of 70, John began commissioning sculptures for their memorial.
Starting on the west side, you will see a sculpture of John and Sarah when they were young,in Hiawatha, Kansas, sitting on a couch in the “parlor.”
As you move clockwise around the memorial, you will see statues of the couple as they aged, facing each other across the structure. In one set of statues, you’ll notice that John and Sarah are both holding hats, but John is missing his left hand. In 1908, John’s hand became infected, due to an injury, and had to be amputated.
The next set of statues are of John and an angel kneeling in mourning. In 1990, someone decapitated this statue of John and made off with its head.
On the east side, you can view John and Sarah’s gravestones.
On the south side, facing the cemetery entrance, you will see the last representation of the couple seated together. The final depiction is of John sitting next to an empty chair after Sarah died.
John often visited the gravesite, and spoke to visitors about it. On one occasion, he saw someone sitting in "The Vacant Chair" and decided to erect a granite wall around the memorial to keep visitors out.
If you listen to the townspeople of Hiawatha, some say that the money would have been better spent on a hospital or a swimming pool for the town. While Davis refused to contribute directly to city projects during the Great Depression, his memorial has indirectly supported Hiawatha citizens. The elaborate gravesite is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is visited by 20,000-30,000 people annually. The cemetery is open from dawn to dusk.
To claim this Virtual, you must have a phone or camera to post a picture with your online log of a sign with your caching name or any part of you in front of the memorial at the posted coordinates. Every log should have a picture attached or your log may be deleted.
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.