Feelings About Spring Grove Cemetery

I became aware of Spring Grove Cemetery a long time ago. I hadn't visited Spring Grove until attending classes at Cincinnati State. I had experience with graveyards before visiting this cemetery. When I was young, I would never laugh when a hearse went by and also held my breath when driving past graveyards. I also explored a couple of cemeteries when I was a kid in Spooky Hollow and elsewhere, and attended many funerals when I was young for deaths in the family.

I explored the grounds of Spring Grove in my first Woody Plant ID class, which gave me a pretty good look at the artwork, grounds keeping, landscaping, and arrangement of the garden. I felt many different feelings about the experience. I was amazed at the diversity of plants that grow naturally in this area, which I understand to have more variety than anywhere in the United States. While at Spring Grove, I spend quiet moments watching the movement of joggers, walkers, mourners and other visitors. I have a feeling for the flow of people who visit this cemetery. I thought this would be a good place to study. This was not just a burial place, but a park-like, horticultural environment with a dynamic and diverse population of plants, insects and small animals.

I did not agree with the purpose of graveyards when I was young, and still believe they are wasteful for the purpose they serve. I prefer the alternatives to burial such as cremation and burial at sea. Spring Grove is one of the few exceptions to this rule because it is such a beautiful arboretum that it is very easy to forget you are in a massive burial ground. It seems to me that if you are going to bury people in the ground those bodies should be allowed to return to the earth without a casket to keep them preserved. It does not seem right to commit good land to burial when that land could serve a better purpose, such as manifesting permaculture in the form of a city food forest. Each one of the billions of people would have to be buried. With more people on earth we were robbing the earth of any purpose beyond what manicured grass can produce.

I have come to appreciate the value of funerals and the beauty of the cemetery as a city landmark. I hope to come to a richer understanding of cemeteries as a landmark and how they function in society. This class and my work at Spring Grove this summer will balance my interest in horticulture, the history of the City as preserved there, the design of the landscape, and the choice of plants for the grounds and the arboretum.
-Jen VP 7/09