Written in Stone: Meet the Carvers - William Coye

William Coye was a carver in the Plymouth, MA area.  He was possibly introduced to carving by Stephen Hartshorn of Providence, RI.  He produced life-like winged heads, scary smiling winged sculls, and other winged heads that were similar to ones carved by Lemuel Savery.

Coye was born in 1750 in Bristol, Rhode Island.  He moved to Plymouth in 1766 where he married the sister of Lemuel  Savery (who was then 15 years old).  Coye worked in Plymouth at the same time as Savery, Nathaniel Holmes and Amaziah Harlow Jr.  Holmes often did the inscriptions on Coye’s markers and learned his craft from Coye.

William Coye passed away in 1816.  His work can be found in Plymouth and Cape Cod. Several of his stones, namely Nathanell Hopkins and Elesebeth Sears can be found in the Brewster Sears Cemetery in Brewster, MA.  This cemetery was a recent meet-up site for the Maine Ghost Hunters.

Information found at:

  • http://www.capecodgravestones.com/carvers/coye.html
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