Spring Grove Cemetery
On the National Register of Historic Places in recognition for its design, the cemetery as a lawn. It was one of the first, if not the first cemetery to adopt landscape design in the layout of its grounds. As I walked around I marveled at the various tombstones and memorials and thought about how much it reminded me of Père Lachaise in Paris. But that's crazy, just because I've been to Paris doesn't mean it has influenced everything, especially in the heavily German influenced Cincinnati. So imagine my surprise when I got home, opened Wikipedia and found out that Spring Grove Cemetery took their inspiration from the contemporary rural cemeteries Père Lachaise in Paris, and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Spring Grove is the second largest cemetery in the U.S. that too is incredible.
Where Père Lachaise is dominated by large boisterous crows, Spring Grove had its robins and geese.
We get lost, but we never mind, getting lost and walking in a circle lead us to Christian Moerlein who's grave site we never would have seen. Greg Hardman, beer baron extraordinaire told me "I bring him a beer on his birthday every year...no kidding..."
There is some Cincinnati trivia for you.
10 comments
Great photos! It's a beautiful place and there's so much to discover there.
ReplyDeleteMt Auburn is considered the prototype for the sprawling garden type cemetery. I believe Spring Grove was originally laid out by the same guy who did Eden Park. At the front office they have a list of famous stiffs there (that omits Israel Ludlow). Their site has a find a grave thing too that gives you the section. They have activities all year, they have an events page on their website.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.springgrove.org/sg/calendar/EventCalendar/EventCalendar.shtm
Your pictures look great. Sometimes when I'm in there shooting, I just feel like I'm cheating, tho. It's just too easy. :-)
They have calendars at the front desk & they are setting up guidelines for the 2013 calendar already.
ALSO
Nice coffee table book: The Beauty in the Grove.
Quimbob, I know, every 5 steps is a scene begging to be photographed. The place is so scenic and serene. If I can stand it, it would be awesome to visit in the winter after a snow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
Great post - makes me want to go there and get lost and take photos. Loved the Greg Hardman tidbit, too.
ReplyDeleteMy hat's off to every nut who photographs cemeteries in the snow.
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/4xjdqq7
I love that place. We live close by, so I am a somewhat frequent visitor.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that they give free tours on a regular basis? I've been on several and they've all been great.
Here is a link to their calendar, if you are interested. Unfortunately, it looks like most of the tours are over until spring.
http://www.springgrove.org/sg/calendar/EventCalendar/EventCalendar.shtm
Pretty stellar photo of Christian Moerlein's grave. I've driven by here so many times and never stopped, I may have to give it a moment of my time one day.
ReplyDeleteMore trivia junk because I just can't stand it.
ReplyDeletethis pic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5chw4r7z/6310116251/
Is John Robinson's place. He owned a large piece of land at the north end of Northside where John Robinson court/circle is. He ran a popular circus & lived in Terrace Park.
http://www.circus4youth.org/res_det.php?res_id=120
The cool thing about blogging is it's always the post that I least expect that blows up and gets all the comments.
ReplyDeleteBut you comment explains the group of people talking about elephants while I was taking pictures there.
Thanks for all the incredible info.
Don't forget the swans. There's not just robins and geese there.
ReplyDelete