Friday, January 15, 2010

General Tom Thumb

It's easy to forget that Bridgeport was once a powerful and rich industrial city, but Mount Grove Cemetery, with its forest of towering prestige monuments, is a testament to more prosperous times. The cemetery is just off of I-95, and a few of the monuments are listed as roadside Americana attractions, including General Tom Thumb's memorial.

Born Charles Sherwood, he was inducted by P.T. Barnum into the circus at age five in 1842 and renamed after an old English fairytale character. He was the most popular act of the entire show. His adult height was just 3'4", and the figure on top of the monument is reported to be life sized. Nearby is Tom Thumb's employer, P.T. Barnum, who also happens to have designed the cemetery.

No comments: