Shrines and cenotaphs (memorials at some distance from actual burial sites) are fixtures of the modern world. The three images above are grave sites in eastern Massachusetts cemeteries decorated by bereaved families (click to enlarge, again to return). The practice is fairly common on the gravesites of children (left). |
 The practice of erecting roadside cenotaphs at the sites of automobile accidents started in the western United States during the depression. The state highway connecting Tucson, Arizona, with the mining town of Ajo to the west is a 60-mile-long memorial park. |