The Pink Elephant Of Hamlet

You can find a gravestone of a pink elephant at the Mary Love Cemetery in Hamlet, NC, although you have to look closely to notice the subtle pink hue.

It is not the final resting spot of Mitchell the Circus Elephant.

It is not the final resting spot of an elephant trainer named Mitchell.

It is not the final resting spot of Mitchell, the town drunk whose drinking was so severe he was plagued by hallucinations of pink elephants.

While all of these urban legends sound plausible, the truth is the grave marks the final resting place of Joseph W. Mitchell, a die hard Republican whose final wish was to have an elephant marking his grave. His wife, Elizabeth Beacham Mitchell, had the elephant made from pink granite because she thought that particular type was the hardest of all granite. It's not.



Fun fact: The pink elephant gravestone was sculpted by Cohen Ludwig, one of the sculptors responsible for Georgia's gigantic Confederate Memorial Carving, the 90' by 190' Stone Mountain carving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

sources: [1 | 2 | 3]

What To Know Before You Go

GPS Coordinates: (34.892475, -79.691397)
Location: 303 Oakland Avenue, Hamlet, NC

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