Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, recalls grand European memorial gardens

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February 09, 2010

Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, recalls grand European memorial gardens

I didn't quite expect to spend most of a full day exploring a cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, but that city's grand old Lake View Cemetery has enough to keep those interested in history, architecture, and photography busy for at least one full day--if not the better part of a week.

The 285-acre cemetery, established in 1869, started as a vision by planners to create a memorial garden to rival the grand Victorian cemeteries in England and France. Huge gravestones, obelisks, ornate memorial buildings like the massive structure commemorating the life of U.S. President James A. Garfield that serves as his final resting place, and the beautiful Wade Chapel with its Tiffany-designed interior and stained glass window, serve as testament to the vision of the cemetery's founders and offer a fascinating trip through Cleveland's rich history and cultural life throughout the years.

Lake View's location six miles from the city's courthouse, and two miles outside Cleveland's city limits in the late 1860s, gave it a real feeling of being out in the country. Lake View quickly became a popular destination for Sunday outings. Today, Lake View is a serene oasis well within greater Cleveland's present-day sprawl, and it is still a great destination for those who want to learn more about the city and some of its more famous residents.

You can find a few biographies of Lake View's most famous residents at the cemetery site, or stop by the cemetery office to pick up a brochure with a map to many of the more interesting gravesites and larger structures.

We found it best to do a little advance planning to decide what sites were must-sees before we even got to the city and found books like Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery (Images of America) and Cemeteries of Northeast Ohio especially helpful. Reading the first book in advance of our visit to the cemetery gave us a nice overview of the history of the place and its place in Cleveland culture, while the latter book included information about Lake View and a surprising number of other memorial gardens in that section of Ohio that look intriguing.

I've included a few shots of Lake View's impressive statuary with today's post, and I'll be back later this month with the story of our visit to the cemetery's Garfield Memorial.