Just a few miles outside of Avery Iowa lies a small rural graveyard named Hickory Grove Cemetery.



Walking through the gates and onto the grave peppered ground it seems like any other country cemetery. However if you take a walk to the back lot of the cemetery you will find 3 very extraordinary pyramids, two measuring about 10 feet tall and the other about 13 feet. The tallest of the three is crafted to be a tomb.



After doing some research I stumbled upon the history of these 3 strange pyramids and the story of the man who built them.

Axel Peterson lived in rural Monroe County Iowa. He was in his early seventies and an avid book reader. Allegedly he had read thousands of books and was also the publisher of a local newspaper called “boomer”.

One of the books he read were about the ancient pyramids in Egypt and contained diagrams of the pyramids. Inspired by these wonders Peterson set out to build some of his own. With the help of his neighbors, in 1939, Peterson built 3 pyramids using native stone and cement, in the back lot of Hickory Grove Cemetery, also known as The Chisholm Cemetery.



The largest of the three pyramids was constructed into a crypt using an upside down bed of a dump truck.


Peterson had planned for this crypt to hold the mortal remains of himself and his best friend with the last name of Heymooler. Peterson did not want to be entombed the traditional way and was said to have made plans to have two benches and a table placed inside of the crypt. The corpses of both him and his friend were to be placed facing each other sitting at the table, inside the crypt. Unfortunately Peterson did not make this widely known and at the time of his death was buried in Cuba Cemetery, located 4 or 5 miles away.

Axel Peterson to me showed vision, determination, and creativity in constructing these strange landmarks. And knowing the story behind the pyramids made them that much more attractive.

To view more photography of this cemetery feel free to visit my gallery where I will be submitting several black and whites and photo-manipulations of this strange and intriguing graveyard located near Avery Iowa in the Midwest United States.