Wooldridge Monument , one man’s fame from the grave

Last year when on vacation I picked up a couple brochures and one of them was about Colonel Henry G. Wooldridge who created a series of 18 statues to surround him in his plot in the Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield, Kentucky. The statues were built to commemorate family members and other loved ones of his life, from 1892 his death on May 30, 1899. An avid hunter, Wooldridge is mounted on his horse named Fop and besides family members, there are also statues replicating his love of hunting with a replica of a fox, a deer, and two hounds chasing them. The two favorite hounds are named “Towhead” and “Bob.
In the plot, Wooldridge sits astride his favorite horse, and statues of his family (The female statues represent Wooldridge’s mother Keziah, his sisters Minerva, Narcissa, and Susan, and his nieces Maud and Minnie. The male statues that are not of Wooldridge are of his brothers Alfred, John, Josiah). Colonel Wooldridge is the only person buried on the site and over the years this has been deemed “The Strange Procession Which Never Moves”.
It is easy to believe that this was featured in 1984 on Ripley’s Believe it or Not. I drug my mother to the cemetery on our way to tour mansions. While she wasn’t thrilled, she was a good sport and admitted, “I have never seen anything like it.”
My husband insists that I would go to see the biggest ball of twine, that I debate, but I admit to enjoying the unusual and this fits the bill! While I don’t recommend making a trip just for this, if in the area, it is a sight to behold!
The monuments are located at 611 N. 5th St. Mayfield, Ky. One note is that if in town, a stop at the lovely Chamber of Commerce to see the Edna Locus Mansion where it is housed is worth a stop as well.