We’ve published a new page dedicated to Laurence Krone, the only early western Virginia German stone carver known by name. His work at St. John’s cemetery represents one of the finest collections of early German funerary art in the commonwealth.
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Krone, who signed his monuments “LAURENCE KRONE STON MASON,” carved approximately thirty German-style monuments at St. John’s between 1812 and 1826. His most significant work here is the three-part tomb of founding pastor Georg Daniel Flohr, featuring a headstone with Latin inscription, a coffin-shaped slab, and a large footstone with Gothic German lettering.
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His distinctive style — coffin-shaped tombs, serrated “pie-crust” edges, hearts formed from lily stems, and stylized roses — allows his work to be identified at cemeteries across the region, including Fort Chiswell in Wythe County and the Cloyd family burying ground at Back Creek Farm in Pulaski County.
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Read the full story of Laurence Krone →
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Source: National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form, St. John’s Lutheran Church and Cemetery, Wythe County, Virginia (Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, April 1977).