A name. A birth and death date. Perhaps a small flourish, such as an embedded photo. But for most headstones you see in a cemetery these days, that’s about it.

Oh, there are certainly exceptions, such as Caroline Yvonne Pate, who died in 2017 at just 39 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Pate loved the British sci-fi show “Doctor Who,” so her ornate tombstone is engraved with a message spread across the top in the doctor’s native language of Gallifreyan.

But for the most part, modern tombstones look nothing like their predecessors from centuries past. Back then, tombstones were ornate works of art that used symbolism, sculpting and more. They often told a story about the individual whose remains rest 6 feet under the person admiring the stone.

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