PARK AND CEMETERY. 
185 
FLOWER DAY AT OAK GROVE CEMETERY. SPRINGFIELD. MASS. 
The custom of having an annual “flower day,’’ on 
which all lot holders are invited to decorate graves, 
has been noted as a popular custom in several ceme- 
teries. 
Oak Grove Cemetery, Springfield, Mass., adopted 
the idea in 1903, and Superintendent J. C. Sackett has 
found it to be growing in favor and productive of 
much interest in the cemetery. 
This general decoration day takes place every year 
the first Sunday after Labor Day, when a notice simi- 
lar to the following is sent to new lot holders : “Third 
Annual Flower Sunday, Oak Grove cemetery. Our 
third annual flower day will be Sunday, Sept. 9, 1906, 
to be observed by all those who wish, as a day for a 
general remembrance, and the bringing of flowers for 
the decoration of their lots.” The quick response to 
the notices each year is an assurance that the experi- 
ment is passing into a custom which will stay because 
the people love it ; 
The Spring-field Homestead has the following to say 
of the last celebration of the day : 
“All day Saturday many willing hands were tenderly work- 
ing over the graves of their loved ones, but most noticeable 
among them were the busy mothers. Old ladies with 
whitened hair and tired faces bent over the graves of chil- 
dren who have been at rest for more than 15 years. The 
middle aged mothers were there, too, softened by a grief 
which had lost its first pang and then there were the younger 
women who have just tasted their first real sorrow, and to 
all faces alike this act of lingering awhile with the dead 
brought a sweetness peculiar to itself. Although the deco- 
rating of graves may not help the dead, to the living it 
brings one of the gentlest influences of human experience. 
“Early Sunday morning while the dew was still heavy on 
the flowers, people began to visit the cemetery. They came 
and went all day, and at dusk little groups were still scat- 
tered about quietly talking of those who were gone. 
“The conspicuous graves Sunday were the undecorated 
ones, but there were not many of these. Almost every grave 
in the cemetery had its token of remembrance. Astors, dah- 
lias, phlox, marigolds and huge clusters of hydrangeas were 
scattered in autumnal profusion among the handsome monu- 
ments, making a brilliant bit of coloring quite in harmony 
with the warm September day.” 
The grounds of Oak Grove, consisting of 98 acres 
on Bay street, were bought by the association in 1881, 
and laid out under the superintendence of Justin 
Sackett. The cemetery was opened for burials in 
1882. A pretty little chapel of Longmeadow sand- 
stone was built the same year, and now is quite cov- 
ered with a flourishing growth of ivy, making the 
spot one of the most picturesque in the cemetery. 
The soil is sandy and the ground gently sloping. 
Perpetual care is included in the price of every lot. 
k... 
FLOWER DAY AT OAK GROVE CEMETERY. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
