[citation needed] The monuments and headstones in the Machpelah Cemetery from the late nineteenth century express the naturalistic motif with carvings of leaves, branches, and tree trunks.

Sterling's commercial district to the west and scattered residences on agricultural land to the east outside the city limits of Mt.

[citation needed] The groupings of mature deciduous and evergreen trees result from the nineteenth century concept that rural cemeteries were to have a park-like atmosphere and be a place of repose and contemplation.

Machpelah has mature specimens of trees including spruce, cedar, cherry, mulberry, maple, walnut, sweet gum, ash and a few dogwoods.

Few buildings or crypts populate the cemetery and the landscape is punctuated with stone funerary sculptures from the late nineteenth century including obelisks, draped urns atop ornamented pedestals, figures of people, angels, and dogs.

[citation needed] Many monuments use motifs from nature to illustrate the death of someone "cut down in the prime of life" such as the one dedicated to W. R. Patterson, a lawyer who died in 1887.

The interments which date after 1940 are in the minority and most of these are noted by small headstones in family plots where the major monument was placed prior to 1940 and reflects the artistic values of the period of significance.