If that wasn’t enough, 2006 marks the first official full year of service for Voodoo Limousine, The Original Hearse Limousine. We rolled Vaughn out in 2005 to great accolades and his legions of fans are growing rapidly. So far he has delivered his services to little kids’ parties, OzFest, WAAF and Audioslave, a 20 year high school reunion, several weddings and some very memorable nights on the town. Make your reservations now for your special 2006 event. Vaughn is waiting!

2006 also marks the successful completion of a long journey to create a very special private gravestone casting commission. In April of 2004, The Gravestone Girls were contacted by Mark Mattes with a request to make a casting of his Revolutionary War ancestor Colonel James Barrett’s beautiful gravestone located in Concord, Massachusetts. Colonel Barrett is buried in The Old Hill Burying Ground located at the heart of Concord center. His an imposingly large slate stone bearing a menacing skull, crossed swords and an intricately and deeply carved family crest. It was the crest Mr. Mattes was aiming to replicate to allow him to share the art and history of this special emblem with his relatives around the United States.

The Gravestone Girls set out on the journey to survey the stone and make contact with the town of Concord to secure permission to make the impression. What followed was year long effort on everyone’s part to establish relationships and stay in touch until all criteria was met to receive permission from Concord and actually execute the project to completion and delivery to Mr. Mattes. This picture shows The Gravestone Girls making the actual impression of the gravestone. This first cast will be used to create the mother mold from which the final pieces will be individually cast.

The project was completed in time to deliver a casting to Mr. Mattes’ unsuspecting parents and an aunt and uncle in Florida days before Christmas. There are five other relatives partaking in this special creation and castings will be heading across the country.

The Gravestone Girls want to thank Tish Hopkins of the Concord Cemetery Dept, the Concord Cemetery Committee, all the educators, organizations and supporters of The Gravestone Girls’ work who provided stellar references to make this project come to fruition. We are proud to have been chosen by Mr. Mattes for this special commission work. His diligence, faith in our capabilities and patience helped contribute to the fine artwork we were able to replicate and preserve for him and his family as part of their genealogical record.

There are several other commission projects in the works for 2006. We will continue to update you as they reach completion. Each is unique and has its own story to tell. The Gravestone Girls are always available for private commission castings. Please contact us and we will work out a plan to bring your ancestor’s special artwork out of the cemetery and into your home!

Memento Mori!

The Gravestone Girls -
Putting the 'Rave' Back in Grave