473 
PARK AND 
CEMETERY. 
FOR BETTER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL CEMETERIES 
Paper by Howard Evarts Weed, Landscape Architect, of Chicago, 
at Pittsburg Convention of American Civic Association. 
To most people cemetery thoughts 
and associations are anything but pleas-- 
ant. This is largely owing to the fact 
that we still adhere to a lot of four- 
teenth century superstitious in connec- 
tion with them. It has been our custom 
to decorate the graves and lots with a 
lot of useless whatnot simply because we 
desire to do something and we know 
not what else to do. But with the 
general progress of civilization has slow- 
ly but surely come a change for the 
better in the establishment of what are 
known as the dawn or park cemeteries. 
It is the purpose of this article to call 
attention to this movement in order that 
the members of the American Civic As- 
sociation may aid the improvement when 
possible to do so. 
The first cemeteries of America were 
the familiar graveyards in connection 
with the churches, the churchyard being 
the graveyard. Many of our cities pos- 
sess these relics of the past, with the 
cities built up all around them. Witness, 
for example, the old Trinity churchyard 
on Broadway in New York City. But 
as the cities became larger the ceme- 
teries were separated from the churches, 
generally as city cemeteries, although the 
Catholics and some other churches still 
have their separate cemeteries for the 
separate religious faiths. But the great 
trouble has been that the cemeteries 
were located just adjoining the growing 
towns, and this has resulted in numer- 
ous old style cemeteries with their un- 
sightly monument’s and headstones right 
in the midst of many of our large cities. 
But during recent years many of these 
cities have made the old cemeteries into 
parks and this is as it should be. Thus 
the south end of Lincoln Park, Chicago, 
was formerly a burial ground, as was 
also a newly established playground in 
Wabash, Ind. The first park of Lans- 
ing, Mich., was formerly the cemetery 
and the same may be said of many other 
places. Other cities may well follow 
these examples. Louisville, Ky., has an 
old neglected cemetery just adjoining the 
business district which has not been 
used for burial purposes for forty years. 
While it would make an admirable site 
for a public park, it is today a nuisance 
which greatly detracts from the value 
of the surrounding property. 
But our future cemeteries will be 
park like. If the cemeteries of the past 
are to become parks of the future, how 
much better it would be to establish 
them as parks in the first place? Those 
of us who have thought of the' matter 
see much beauty in green grass, flowers, 
shrubs and trees, but very little if any 
beauty in the numerous headstones and 
monuments of the old-time cemetery. 
The time is at hand in America when 
all our best cemeteries are being laid 
out as parks. So that the cemeteries 
of the future are bound to become a 
part of the park and boulevard system 
of our cities. 
The essential features of a park ceme- 
tery briefly stated are as follows : 
1. No lot’s or graves raised above 
the natural grade or alleys. 
2. Only one monument to a lot. This 
a family monument and not a monument 
to any individual. 
3. Headstones only — no foot stones. 
In the strictly modern park cemetery 
the tops of these are placed even with 
the ground. 
4. No coping, fences or inclosures 
of any kind around the lots. 
5. Lot markers even with the ground. 
6. Plenty of trees and shrubs used in 
making a beautiful landscape. 
7. Perpetual . care fund. 
It goes without saying that the Ceme- 
tery Association can take care of a ceme- 
tery as a whole more economically than 
can the individual lot owners. It will 
be readily understood that by having one 
sweep of lawn in a cemetery, without 
obstructions by fences and copings, it can 
be kept in good condition at small ex- 
pense, compared with a cemetery which 
has any inclosures around the lots. In 
the one case the cemetery is cared for 
as a whole, while in the other case it 
becomes a question of caring for the 
individual lots. So that by making our 
cemeteries park-like, we not only add 
to their beauty, but we are able to keep 
them in good condition at comparatively 
small expense. This expense item is, 
after all, the reason of such a change 
taking place in the making of our ceme- 
teries. 
Monuments are supposed to be neces- 
sary things in a cemetery and will doubt- 
less be with us for sometime to come. 
The money now invested in them runs 
into the millions annually. How much 
better could this amount be spent in 
children’s play grounds ! Surely monu- 
ments do not do the dead any good, and 
I fail to see how they can aid the liv- 
ing. Flowers on the coffin cast no frag- 
rance backward over the weary way 
and expensive tombstones do not aid the 
soul in it’s flight through eternity. I am 
sure that the best monument one can 
erect is the memory of good deeds 
done in the body. “I expect to pass 
through this world but once. If, there- 
fore, there is any good that I can do 
my fellow man let me do it now, for I 
will not pass this way, again.” The 
monuments of a park cemetery should 
bear no inscription except the family 
name. The headstones should bear 
only the name of the individual, with 
the year of birth and death. In the 
strictly modern park cemeteries. Lake- 
wood of Minneapolis for example, the 
headstones are placed even with the 
ground. In others they are allowed to 
project from four to eight inches above 
the surface, with restrictions as to width 
and depth, so that they may be uni- 
form. Some day we will wake up to 
the uselessness of monuments and do 
away with them entirely. When we thus 
take away the useless stones from the 
graveyards, we will indeed have park 
resting places for our dead. Let us 
hasten the time. We are all striving for 
“A More Beautiful America.” 
As trees and shrubs are essential fea- 
tures of parks, so they predominate in 
the park cemeteries. By their proper 
grouping we take away the barren fea- 
tures of a place and make it beautiful 
and restful. A tree makes a beautiful 
monument. The shrubs should be 
grouped in much the same way as they 
are in our parks, using them to make 
pleasing vistas. They should also be 
used as a background for monuments. 
From the landscape point of view a 
monument should be regarded as a 
building and treated in much the same 
way. Thus in the picture presented to 
the eye, we should see green grass in 
the foreground, a few dwarf shrubs 
about the base of the monument, with a 
background of shrubs and a skyline of 
trees. 
The varieties of trees and shrubs best 
suited for cemetery planting are mostly 
those of slow growth. It is well to 
avoid the catalpa and Carolina poplar 
on account of the early shedding of the 
leaves. We should also avoid shrubs 
which send out numerous suckers, such 
as the common lilac and black locust, 
for we wish to keep the shrubs within 
bounds without too much labor. The 
Anthony Waterer Spiraea and Thun- 
berg’s barberry are excellent dwarf 
growers, the Van Houttei Spiraea and 
the Rose weigela are good medium 
growers, while the upright honeysuckles 
