Mount Mora Cemetery, St. Joseph

Established in 1851, Mount Mora owes its current design to W. Angelo Powell in 1872. Like most of the cemeteries I show, this is a product of the rural cemetery movement begun at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. For a city of St. Joseph’s size, there are an insane number of mausolea! It just goes…

Krug Park and Two Cemeteries, St. Joseph

One of the focal points of St. Joseph is Krug Park, which is a fairly rugged plot of land on the northern side of the city. There is a system of parkways that connects much of the city (and is difficult to photograph) and they sweep around St. Joseph connecting parks such as Krug. In…

Oak Hill Cemetery, Youngstown

Located across the Mahoning River from downtown Youngstown, Oak Hill Cemetery takes its name from the neighborhood in which it is located. Founded in 1853 by a group of prominent citizens, the it fits in nicely with the Rural Cemetery Movement that took off in the years before the Civil War. Interestingly, the cemetery does…

Lake View Cemetery and Little Italy, Cleveland

A little bit of a latecomer in the Rural Cemetery Movement, Lake View Cemetery was founded in 1869, east of downtown Cleveland on rugged, steep terrain. While due to the growth of the city and mature trees, the name comes from what had once been a commanding view of Lake Erie. The grounds are lush,…

Forest Cemetery and La Grange, Toledo

At Cherry Street, I found the private street from Hell. I drove in Birckhead Place, which has streets that look like they have recently been the epicenter of a Ukrainian and Russian artillery duel. Maybe it’s time to swallow your pride and let the City of Toledo make your streets public so they’ll get fixed?…

Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit

Founded in 1895 on Woodward Avenue, Woodlawn Cemetery relieved pressure on the smaller cemeteries such as Elmwood or Mount Elliott cemeteries deeper into the city. It is big, clocking in at 140 acres, and is placed strategically close to the border with the suburbs. It is huge, and boasts over one hundred mausolea, which in…

Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit

Created in 1849 in the same period as many other rural cemetery movement burial grounds were founded throughout America, Elmwood Cemetery was inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, which we looked at back in October of 2022. It’s the oldest still existing non-denominational cemetery in Detroit, and it lies to the northeast of downtown…

Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio

Founded in 1844 and inspired like many American rural cemetery movement burial grounds by Père LaChaise Cemetery in Paris, Spring Grove Cemetery is the huge contributor to the field in Cincinnati. Like many others, a cholera epidemic and a desire to replace small urban cemeteries spurred its founding. An impressive Gothic Revival gatehouse welcomes the…

Bellefontaine Cemetery, Late November 2022

I realized it had been some time since I had photographed Bellefontaine Cemetery, so I snapped some late November views that were new or ones that I had not taken in a long time.

Montmartre Cemetery

Across Paris in the Montmartre area is another cemetery, built in the basin of a former limestone quarry–a common theme where largely unbuildable land is used for the burial of the dead. It’s an interesting counterpoint to Père Lachaise; Montmartre Cemetery is still a rural cemetery movement space but it is more rigid and just…