Twilight was upon us and the western sky was crowded with enormous, fluffy clouds but this one was hanging out all alone. It was doing its own thing apart from the crowd.
I admired this cloud for its beauty and for its independent nature. No one was telling it what to do.
Silly, I know. But tell me something. If you aren’t admiring the clouds on a pretty fall evening, what are you doing with your life?
Have a great Thursday, friends. When in doubt, stop and look up!
Birdsong.
A slight breeze in the pines.
Two squirrels scurrying up a tree.
These are the things I noticed first. Then I realized I could actually hear some street noises but the sounds of nature were so distracting, the city traffic took a back seat.
I was at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, one of the nation’s most extraordinary final resting places in the nation.
It was mid October but the trees were still mostly green around Cincinnati. It was a cool morning that felt like fall and the occasional small pop of color helped to make it feel more authentically fall even if the color wasn’t that much.
We walked part of the cemetery’s historic section twice last week, admiring the scenery and scrambling from one extraordinary headstone to even more magnificent ones. We read names and dates and tried to decipher the meanings of the iconography. I was reminded of a book on cemetery iconography that I should have bought.
There’s so much to see here. Some of the mausoleums are getting much needed TLC including the Dexter. This one is the crown jewel of Spring Grove and was probably the Bentley of mausoleums when it was built.
Scaffolding and caution tape distract from nature’s gifts but warmed my cynical heart because construction means that someone is caring for this historic structure.
Sea captains, infants, politicians and women who are known mostly as the wife of some man, all receive equal treatment here. Death knows no bounds and no mercy to young or old. All are gone from this earth but each have something to remind everyone else that they once lived.
And in the end, isn’t that what we all want? We just want to make sure that we will be remembered for having lived and that those we care about won’t be forgotten either.
Spring Grove. If you’ve never been there, you won’t understand the magnitude and the significance of this incredible place. If you have been, you understand why I like to return and why I wish to see it in every season.
In telling the story of this last long weekend in Cincinnati, it seems prudent to start with the very best and favorite thing that we did. I hope you like it too because you most likely will hear about it more because there are so many pictures and stories to tell from just this place.
Our very favorite place was …… drumroll, please……. a cemetery.
Crickets.
I know. Hear me out.
It isn’t just a cemetery. It’s an arboretum too and the Grande Dame of all the amazing cemeteries at least in this part of the country.
Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum was established in 1845. This nonprofit has 750 acres of trees, 44 miles of paved roads and fifteen lakes. We never left the historic section so I have no idea what the new sections look like but the old areas are amazing.
We parked at the visitors’ center (yes, they have a visitors’ center) and went inside for maps and an overview from a nice man who helped to orient us. There’s a printed walking tour as well as lists of notable people buried here.
From the visitors’ center, you walk under an old stone railroad bridge into what feels like Heaven on Earth. I will be honest with you, we did most of the walking tour but not all. That’s because every stop on the map was surrounded on all directions by other things we wanted to see.
Spring Grove had been on my radar for some time but I had never made it there for one reason or another. I had seen pictures and heard stories but none of it, and I do mean none of it, prepared me for this place.
It is stunning.
When I told Adam about it, I just described it as a cool old cemetery, purposefully trying to surprise him. Little did I know how shockingly beautiful, amazing, and jaw droppingly awesome it would be for a couple of cemetery nerds.
I suppose I should explain that trees are unwelcome in our local cemeteries. Even gorgeous old trees that people love aren’t safe from being cut down if they are too near the boundaries of a cemetery. To find a place that not only has trees but celebrates them is wonderful.
The trees alone are incredible, providing comforting shade on the hot sunny days we visited. They also provide wonderful habitat for an abundance of birds that flitted about chirping and singing their little hearts out.
We were delighted by the turtles, swans and ducks that call the lakes home.
There are monuments of all sizes and mausoleums of varying architectural styles. One monument put up by the International Order of Oddfellows celebrates friendship, love and truth.
There’s a sense of one-upmanship in the historic areas as one wealthy family after another built grandiose mausoleums and erected artwork at their family plots. Columns, obelisks, statuary, granite reliefs, busts and orbs are common.
The true showstopper though is the Dexter, a mausoleum and chapel that robbed me of words for a full minute.
We saw people out walking and running. The cemetery actually puts out mile marker signs along a suggested route to help folks reach their fitness goals. We saw a woman painting and a man reading book. On Sunday, a group of volunteers had convened to plant flowers and I was jealous of them all. We agreed that we would be there all the time of we lived close enough and I’m sure I would volunteer to help out.
Come back tomorrow to read about the Dexter. It has a great backstory and one worthy of its own telling.
Want to visit Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum? Click here for their website. Here you’ll even find a list of upcoming events including tours and volunteer days.
It’s no secret to me or anyone who has to put up with me that I’m mentally tired and probably need a day off – or a nap – or maybe a time out. Yesterday I ran for the door at the end of my work day for the first weeknight hike of the season.
The evening daylight is long enough now that we were able to fit in almost four miles.
Four glorious miles. Well, all were glorious except for the last very steep hill that left me so winded I was sure I had emphysema. Man, I have some goals for this hiking season! But I survived and without stopping so that’s something to celebrate.
Another thing to celebrate is the incredible restorative effects of nature. To breathe fresh air is to start anew. To hear birdsong is to hear the earth sing. To feel a light breeze on your face is an embrace from the world. To feel dirt and fallen leaves beneath your feet is to connect with the earth in unexpected ways. To look up into the tree tops is to understand your place in this world.
In case there’s any doubt – you are small and so is your place here.
I came home feeling so much more grounded and better equipped for all that’s bugging. At least for a while.
I am fortunate to live in the country where my literal backyard is filled with trees and shrubs, flowers and weeds and where birds and frogs gift me with their beautiful songs every day. I’m also fortunate to live close to hiking trails so I can easily run away from home for natural therapy when time allows.
If you’re having a hard day, if you need a mental health break, if you’re struggling or if you’re doing just fine and simply want the amazing things I described above, find your way outdoors. You will be happier and stronger for it.
I promise.