I love cemeteries for their beautiful locations, peaceful
settings, respect for those who have lived before us, and marvelous history.
Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery is located at the end of Piedmont Avenue in
the Oakland Hills. It has a park-like feel, with winding roads; stunning
vistas; beautiful flower beds; native oaks and transplanted cypress, cedar, and
stone pine trees. Mountain View Cemetery was designed by landscape architect Frederick
Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York City. Olmsted was
influenced by early 19th century ideas that park-like cemeteries
represent harmony between nature and man, and his own
egalitarian ideals that park land should be available to all. The cemetary was dedicated
in 1865.
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| View of Mountain View Cemetery from the top of the hill. |
Mountain View Cemetery is designed around a central axis – a
main road connects the end of Piedmont Avenue with the top of the hill. Four fountains
are positioned at periodic intervals on this main axis, surrounded with
roundabouts that connect to roadways leading off the main thoroughfare to meander
throughout the site.
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| Millionaire row in Mountain View Cemetery. |
The cemetery is filled with the business leaders, builders, architects,
writers, artists, educators visionaries, and plain folks, from Oakland’s last 150
years. Millionaire row is easy to spot, with all the crypts and vaults. I love
the Victorian influence of draped urns, angels, and cherubs; and the human history
etched across the marble grave markers. To learn more about the cemetery, its history,
gardens, and docent-lead tours: http://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/
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