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| Oak Hill Cemetery Washington D.C. nps.gov |
It is that time of the year again when all the ghost and goblins come out for All Hallow's Eve or the Day of The Dead. If the tech gremlins invading blogger's trusty laptop are any indication, Halloween seems to have gotten an early start. Be that as it may, before yours truly gets going on today's topic, blogger just wants to thank you for your support. Because of you, we reached over 50,000 page views. As always, it because of you that yours truly does this. Thank you for your geneoristy and support.
In this blog we talk about residential developments for the living and some the challenges that face those tasked with creating places to live that accommodate everyone's needs. However, what about the dearly departed? Surely they need a final resting place. Kriston Capps recently reported in his CityLab article, "Developing the Cities of the Dead," that cemeteries are facing the same challenges as new housing tracts: in-fill development, historic preservation, and new construction. It seems that the dead cannot even rest in peace.
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| Renwick Chapel at the Oak Hill Cemetery georgetownmetropolitan.com |
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| Ben Bradlee Mausoleum Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington D.C, georgetowner.com |
As subtly elegant as the Bradlee mausoleum is, it is problematic for the cemetery. The mausoleum occupies a featured place: it is the first major element that visitors see through the gatehouse. Mr. Capps writes, "When it is completed, the Bradlee mausoleum will command one of the cemetery's most important landscape features, the Ellipse." This new element joins the entrance ensemble, a group of components that includes the Gothic Revival Renwick Chapel, designed by American architect James Renwick in 1849. Five years ago the cemetery board approved a new allee of mausoleums among the trees lining the northern border of the Ellipse. The Bradlee mausoleum holds a place of great prominence among the proposed buildings-according board president George Hill , eight to ten along the tree line. Mr. Capps continues, "It's a departure from the in-fill development that has happened in recent years. And arguably, it's a disruption to an historic landscape."
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| Location and site plan for Oak Hill Cemetery The Bradlee mausoleum is at the top of the Ellipse city lab.com |
My job is to make sure that Oak Hill is not just open next month or next year...If that means we need to develop the back of the Ellipse in as subtle a way as possible, I that's something we should do.
Oak Hill Cemetery is one of the United States's great "rural cemeteries" landscape-based burial ground, typical located just outside the city limits during the 19-century. To clarify, today Oak Hill is located in Georgetown and is firmly within the D.C. city limits but this was not always true. Other examples of rural cemeteries include: Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York; Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts; Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois (not the Elvis Graceland), and Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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| Oak Hill Cemetery Gatehouse loc.gov |
What differentiates Oak Hills from its sister graveyards is the acreage. Each of the above listed graveyards sits on at least 100 acres. For example, Green-Wood Cemetery occupies 478 acres. By comparison, Oak Hills takes up a paltry 22 acres. Kriston Capps sums up the situation, "Its small size means that even little changes represent significant alterations to the original landscapes, to say nothing of large additions such as the Bradless mausoleum on the Ellipse."
Any changes at Oak Hill are more than cosmetic. Like many graveyards, it holds many mysteries waiting to be solved. Case in point, no one knows who designed it. Mr. Capps postulates, "There's some evidence to suggest that it was Andrew Jackson Down, who (with Calvert Vaux) designed the funds for the White House and the Smithsonian Institution." Another theory is Jacob Bigelow, the founder of Boston's Mount Auburn, might have designed the fence at Oak Hill. Whatever concrete information about the graveyard's history seem to be lost in the mists of history together with changes to its landscape. Further, "And a cemetery cannot be in the business of losing sight of the past."
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| Interior of the Renwick Chapel Oak Hill Cemetery commons.wikimedia.org |
Hypothetically, let's say that someone like Downing designed this...You're then inserting something where you've go the pedigree of Downing, Bigelow, and James Renwick. But we don't know.
Regardless, this is quite an impressive pedigree.
The caretakers have made minimal changes to Oak Hill Cemetery. One example, the board included double-deep coffin sites under the pathways. The graveyard also has plot under steps and the cremated remains of the dearly departed are inside the steps. That has blogger reeling from the possibility of walking on someone. Mr. Capps reports, "The biggest addition over the last 30 years may be the columbarium, which includes some 400 niches for urns. The board hasn't seriously added new mausoleums since the 1960s."
Kriston Capps continues, "If the landscape design was important to the way people understood the function and space of the cemetery in the 19th century, then it's worth preserving today." However, there is not criteria for evaluating these merits. David Jackson, the superintendent for Oak Hill told Mr. Capps, there isn't any formal approval or permitting process for building new mausoleums.. According to Thomas Luebke, the secretary for the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts, ...funerary elements would only fall under its jurisdiction if the D.C. government referrred a building permit to the commission. Mr. Capps tried to get the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to comment on the story but they did not respond.
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| Renwick Chapel exterior Oak Hill Cemetery loc.gov |
My hope is at the end of the day, at a minimum, now that we know this sort of thing is happening, that moving forward, there would be best practices at Oak Hill Cemetery...This would suggest undertaking a cultural landscape report. This would suggest nominating the cemetery for the National Register of Historic Places-at a minimum.
Presently, only the Renwick Chapel is listed on the National Register. Mr. Birnbaum continues,
I think [Oak Hill Cemetery] is one of the most historic designed landscapes in Washington. This level of intervention is inappropriate.
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| Oak Hill Cemetery, 1919 shorty.com |
...Oak Hill is only viable as working cemetery-which means building in the few places left.
There are about 20,000 souls resting peacefully at Oak Hill and not much room for any more. The alternative is Rock Creek Park but the sloped terraced landscape too steep and inaccessible for funerals. Mr. Hill continues,
You can find very few cemeteries in this country that are thriving and financially viable...I think you can find a lot of cemeteries that are in desperate shape.
Mr. Hill also told Mr. Capps, When there's nowhere left for the dead to be buried, Oak Hill Cemetery will become a museum. It could be 10 years from now...or 75 years from now.
Regardless, solely relying on charity will support the cemetery when construction ceases. For now, the Oak Hill Cemetery board will do whatever it can to preserve the melancholy character of the original 19th-century landscape. George Hill shares a couple of silver linings,
I am absolutely sure that Oak Hill, its board, and its patrons are not ready for ghost tours and dog-walking...It's just not who we are.
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