Daily AncestorShroud
A carved shroud or pall on a gravestone stands for the separation of the living from the dead and for mourning.
A shroud wrapped the body, and a pall is the cloth laid over a coffin. Carved on a stone, often under a book or over a monument's top, the cloth marks the line between this life and the next.
Guides treat shroud, pall, veil and drapery as close cousins, all signs of mourning in the 19th century. A pall is also listed among the stark mortality images of colonial stones.
As seen in a recordRural Kentucky or Tennessee cemetery, 1850 to 1910
Book resting on a draped shroud: Wm. T. Gossard, born Mar. 3, 1834, died Nov. 19, 1888
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Shroud." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/gravestone-symbols/shroud. Last checked 2026-10-15.