A fitting send-off’
$1.4-million grave house the latest ‘wonder’ to be constructed at
The under construction grave house at the Annotto Bay Cemetery in St Mary. (Photo: Jason Tulloch)
WHEN business slowed in the construction industry several years ago, carpenter Mervin Davis and his team turned to ‘grave shelters’ for supplemental income.
More than a decade later, the market for these shelters and monuments has become increasingly attractive and especially in rural Jamaica.
Davis was on a break from building a $1.4-million grave shelter, one of the largest in the country, at the Annotto Bay Cemetery in St Mary, when the Jamaica Observer North & East caught up with him last Tuesday.
“The main thing was that things got slow with us and building house so we say why not expand and we started with some in St Elizabeth. We were contacted by [a funeral home] here in St Mary, and we decide that we were going to take them up on them offer and carry what we been doing in St Elizabeth to St Mary/Portland,” Davis explained.
“But it wasn’t only that though. We find that it was a way for people to come back and look for them family without feeling ‘fraid. You know how people ‘fraid of cemeteries and duppy? So we find a way to minimise that by making graves more attractive,” he added.
What started as a job for the middle-aged man and his team quickly turned into a passion.
It is a way, he said, to put smiles on the faces of grieving families.
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The shelters and monuments, are typically designed to mimic the lifestyle of the deceased, Davis mentioned, with families often wanting to hold on to a particular memory of their loved ones.
Some of the designs include houses, castles, aeroplanes, trucks, and ships.
“It get them to be comfortable in a way with the fact that them family member gone and that them get this good send off and them can come back whenever and come see them without feeling scared,” said Davis.
His latest project, a grave shelter for two sisters, began three weeks ago when he was contacted by the dead women’s family members who reside overseas.
The request was made after a relative of the women observed other works done by the carpenter.
Photos were taken and shared with family members who then contacted Davis.
He told Observer North & East that this is how he has managed to build his clientele over the years.
Added to that, approximately 80 per cent of clients reside outside of Jamaica.
“With this structure, one sister was a [seamstress] and so we’re putting a sewing machine inside the house. The other sister was a chef so we’re putting a stove in the house as well. The family say they want a touch of both sisters to remember them by so that is what we’re out here doing. They wanted them to get a fitting send-off you know? A nice way to rest.
“You see, we love when we do a work a work and the family happy. We love when them smile. Sometimes them nuh all agree when them hear a figure, but when them see the finished product there is no more fussing and we love that. We love when people happy man,” said Davis.
Eskimo have money dem buy ice.
Dog have money him buy cheese. So d sewing machine n the stove mek outa cement..cuz me know ef a Singer dem go..as dem put dat een smaddy gone wid it.
Maybe is dem craft up summen outta wood.
Mexico style a killing now Mexico style a grave