Last week on my "day off" I traveled to Athens, Texas, a city of about 13,000 (it seemed much bigger!) about 70 miles southeast of Dallas to visit the East Texas Arboretum, to eat a great BBQ rib lunch at Applebee's and hopefully to see some Texas bluebonnets (alas, there were few but tons of Indian paintbrush). I had made a note somewhere in time that there was an angel statuary at the Athens City Cemetery so of course that was another hotspot on my travel map.
It didn't take long to spot this dynamic duo in the center of the historic cemetery which is only a few blocks from the courthouse square (oh, btw, my courthouse photos were poor because the number of trees around the Henderson County Courthouse in Athens make it virtually impossible to photograph).
Both these lovely statues are in the Wofford family plot. The Woffords were obviously a notable family in this area because these are magnificent pieces of art, although I can find little information about them. Supposedly the seniormost Wofford served in the Civil War and came to Texas shortly thereafter where he was a prominent businessman. One of his relatives, undoubtedly, was a noted Civil War general but remained in the South after the War. The first names were different. There is a small town named for the Woffords about five miles from Athens.
What struck me as unusual about these statues was their cleanliness. Most cemetery statuary in this area is encrusted with soot and lichen and very few families have the resources to keep the marble as clean as these seem to be.
