2 5 0 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
parks of Omaha will afford a significant indication 
of the spirit which has determined the city. 
her brightest moods, and so has reduced the harsh- 
ness of the wilderness which he first surveyed to 
THE GARDINER MONUMENT. 
FERNCLIFF CEMETERY, SPRINGFIELD, O. 
The rapid growth of Springfield, O., as early as 
i S63 , forcibly reminded those interesting themselves 
in such matters, that the ceme- 
teries there in use were wholly 
inadequate to meet future de- 
mands for the repose of the dead, 
and that additional grounds were 
imperatively required. Accord- 
ingly on June 23, 1863, a meet- 
ing was held, at 
which committees 
were appointed to 
meet later and re- 
port. A later 
meeting occurred 
July 20 of the 
same year, and 
the reports of 
committees were 
received favoring the formation of an association, 
and this was organized on August 3, and the legal 
amount of stock, $10,000, was readily taken. On 
August 25 a charter was secured under the laws 
of Ohio, and on September 12, 1863, under the 
name of The Springfield Cemetery Association, 
seventy-one acres of land northwest of the city 
limits, and beautifully situated on the hills and 
cliffs north of “Brick Creek,” were purchased. By 
a subsequent purchase this was increased to 125 
acres., which is in round figures the present area of 
the cemetery. 
In deference to the characteristics of the prop- 
erty the name of Ferncliff was adopted, and is most 
appropriate. The entrance for a distance of some 
1,800 feet is a continuation of cliffs, rising to a 
height of from forty to fifty feet, literally enshrouded 
in ferns, with broken boulders, more or less numer- 
ous, at their base, giving a wildness and picturesque- 
ness, very attractive and interesting. 
It was thought by many that the property was 
not suitable for the purpose intended, but the asso- 
ciation, with Mr. John Dick, the present superin- 
tendent, a skilled landscape gardener, entered rap- 
idly upon the work, and notwithstanding the many 
obstacles, has transformed the place into a most 
beautiful cemetery, combining the rugged pictur- 
esqueness of cliff and rock scenery with the charm of 
the peaceful landscape, where lawn, shrubbery and 
trees, with the varied changes of sunshine and 
shadow, make a perfect resting place for those who 
have gone before. Mr. Dick believes in carrying 
out landscape work in conformity with nature in 
CENTRAL AVENUE. 
the attractive pictures which now confront the vis- 
itor to Fernclift Cemetery. The improvement, 
however, is not yet completed, although 7,500 of 
Springfield’s dead repose in the finished tract. “No 
pen can do justice to its wild and wierd beauty; so 
wild and wierd are some parts of the cliffs to this 
day that they have been christened by many 
‘Devil’s Half Acre.’ ” 
The grounds above the cliffs are fine knolls di- 
vided into sections by winding avenues through the 
ravines. Up to the present time there have been 
fourteen sections laid out, ranging in area from two 
to four acres. 
The highest point in the cemetery is a knoll, 
circular in plan, known as Indian Hill, which must 
at one time have been an Indian burying ground; 
THE BOOK WALTER VAULT. 
