Wooldridge Monument: Susan Neely, (sculpture).

Wooldridge Monument: Susan Neely, (sculpture).

Unknown, sculptor.

Wooldridge Monument: Susan Neely, (sculpture).

Strange Procession that Never Moves, (sculpture).

Installed 1890-1899.

Sculpture: sandstone; Base: stone.

Sculpture: approx. 64 x 24 x 24 in.; Base: approx. 33 x 30 x 30 in.

(On front of base:) Susan Neely unsigned

Susan Neely stands with her hands clasped at her waist. Her hair is held in a bun and she wears an ankle-length skirt with a jacket that buttons down the front over a blouse with a ruffled front. The sculpture rests on a small square base in the rear of a group of cemetery monuments depicting relatives and favorite animals of Henry G. Wooldridge. The cemetery plot is surrounded by a chain-link fence.

Portrait female -- Neely, Susan -- Full length

Outdoor Sculpture -- Kentucky -- Mayfield

Administered by City of Mayfield, Department of Public Works, 211 East Broadway, Mayfield, Kentucky 42066

Located Maplewood Cemetery, Mayfield, Kentucky

One of sixteen stone cemetery monuments erected by Henry Wooldridge as a memorial to his family. Wooldridge, a local horse breeder, is the only one buried on the 33 x 17 ft. cemetery plot that includes life-size figures of his mother, three sisters, four brothers, and two favorite nieces. Among the figures are two portraits of Wooldridge himself, one astride his favorite horse, Fop, and one standing by a lectern. A deer, a fox, and two hounds are also included to represent Wooldridge's love of hunting. The figure of Wooldridge standing by a lectern was carved in Italy of native marble, but the rest of the figures were carved from sandstone by craftsmen in Mayfield and Paducah, Kentucky. All of the figures were erected between 1890 and 1899, and when Wooldridge died on May 30, 1899, he was buried in an above-ground vault in the middle of the figures.

The Wooldridge monuments are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. IAS files contain a related excerpt from John E. Kleber's "The Kentucky Encyclopedia," Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, pg. 967, and a pamphlet from the Mayfield Tourism Commission entitled "Wooldridge Monuments: The Uncommon Wealth of Kentucky,"

A nearby Kentucky Historical Society marker reads: Wooldridge Monuments/This rare statuary, a memorial/to loved ones, was conceived by/Colonel Wooldridge, whose/central marble image was carved in/Italy. Devoted to the memory of/his family and his life. Animal/lover, famous fox hunter and member of the Masonic order,/only he is entombed here./Details at Chamber of Commerce.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Kentucky survey, 1994.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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