Green Lawn Cemetery

What is most disturbing about Green Lawn Cemetery is their killing of the deer on their land – and via cruel, painful and slow death bow hunting. I for one would not bury a loved one in a so-​called «sanctuary» in which beautiful, peaceful animals are being slaughtered just above.

I am reviewing Green Lawn as a park; it is not strange to do so.
It was designed in the rural garden cemetery tradition that held fashion in the 19^th century. The concept is more than a burial ground, but of a park too, filled with landscaping, trees, sculptures, and paths that followed the sways of the land. Green Lawn fits this idea perfectly; it is meant for public recreation, and is an often forgotten chest of treasures. It is a must visits for park lover. It does not disappoint.
The romantic designs of the place and the monuments scattered between its winding paths are visually striking. Spanning its 360 acres from its entrance arch off Greenlawn Avenue to its eastern border of Central Avenue are mausoleums and crypts, old worn tombstones and overbearing monuments, ivory statues of neoclassical and romantic significant, sad shrines to lost beloved children. And soldiers, under standard issue headstones, from all wars, some whose name will never be known, fate never knew to love ones back home, burred in a strange land, inurned in soil not of their own. Walking in a ceremony confronts your minds with the secrets of the dead, and with your own mortality.
The trails curve and tosses about so fluidly I get lost every time I am here. Always clean of debris and nicely tendered, the land is easily walked and beautiful. In the center is a Neo-​classically designed Chapel ornamented by Tiffany glass. To the south and east of that is a wildlife pond that attracts birds of many species and enhanced my early spring walk with chirps, mating calls, squawks, and the welcomed drumming of a Woodpecker, making his way through one of the many types of trees here.
The historical significance of the garden is huge; the most influential, noted, infamous, and rich make this there everlasting hangout. Samuel Bush of the political family, James Thurber whose small monument is shadowed by the Wolfe’s of dispatch fame, the department store mogul Simon Lazarus, James Forsyth the commander of the Wounded Knee Massacre, Eddie Rickenbacker war hero and Eastern Airlines CEO, and Lucas Sullivant the first settler in central Ohio are just a few of the notable laid to rest here. James Snook, the OSU prof who murdered a student in a sensational case in the 1930s is here, his last name uninscribed to protect against vandals.
Walking among these ancient, jagged, gothic shapes with the sounds and aromas of nature around sends one to meditations – which I think is the deeper value of the park – about life, our own mortality, about regret and our human, all too human imperfections, proclivities, and appetites. The sense is to gather ye rose.. . to seize the day.. . while all around are noticeable monuments of the known, but of the not so known too; many impressive displays of «remember me» inscribed with a name forgotten. Thurber’s stone is no more than a common garden stepping stone, Bush’s is no more than a table top decoration. The largeness of your headstone can not enhance the smallness of your life, and that goes beyond the trivial concerns of remembrance.

Columbus, Ohio has one cemetery above all of ‘em: Green Lawn Cemetery.
The official founding date is 1848 but the history found in Green Lawn is something everyone living in and around the Columbus area should see. The cemetery’s chapel mausoleum was designed by Frank Packard. The spiritual retreat covers 360 acres and is home to wildlife and has bird sanctuary areas, too. Within the chapel are stained glass windows and mosaics created by Tiffany & Co. of New York.
Well-​known families and individuals interred at Green Lawn are; (a) Samuel Bush, grandfather and great-​grandfather of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, U.S. Presidents; S. Bush being the president of Buckeye Steel; (b) Dr. Lincoln Goodale — first practicing physician of Franklinton; © Simon Lazarus — Lazarus Department Stores; (d) James Poindexter — conductor on the Underground Railroad and first African American to be elected to Columbus City Council; (e) Eddie Rickenbacker — WWI flying ace; (f) Lucas Sullivant — surveyor/​planner of the city of Franklinton in 1797; (g) James Thurber — twentieth century authors, humorist and cartoonist and; (h) honored veterans of every war including the Civil War.
You’ll recognize the street names of Columbus on the memorials. Sullivant, Neil, Goodale, to name a few. The visit I made was in early Spring and the trees and flowers were only in budding stages. The plan is to return in early Summer when the property has had a good «haircut» and the blossoming is in full force.
Green Lawn Cemetery — make the trip. Well worth it. Open every day from sun up to sun down.

In times of sorrow it’s hard to be open to anything-​but. But often times there’s one place of solitude for all of us where we can close our eyes, take a deep breath, and reminisce over the memories while trying not to dwell on the hurt.
For many, such is the place at Greenlawn. It’s a calm, peaceful and inviting cemetery that encourages its visitors to slow down and just remember…
If you’re in the market for a plot, Greenlawn has a heftier price tag than other smaller cemeteries, but because it’s such a beautiful, sought-​after final resting place, many look past that. The customer service we received was kind, understanding and empathetic and, frankly, made our experience a lot better given the circumstances.
Although there is sadness in a cemetery, it’s always a good idea to take off your blinders and be open to the beauty that surrounds you. At Greenlawn, the beauty is all around you.

Birders flock to this cemetery in numbers so huge you would think John James Audubon himself was buried here, and I am one of them.
I went here Friday morning before work in search of White Winged Crossbills which is one of my faves because it looks exactly like its name. This is a rarity in Columbus since these guys generally forage along the northern belt of spruce and hemlocks in s.canada.
Every ten years or so there is an ‘eruption’ in central U.S. when the weather prohibits the crossbills favorite conifers to produce, so there is a lack of food. This is the case right now so everyone is tripping overthemselves to get a look and add to their life list.
I went around 8:00 AM hoping to avoid the geriatric birders in their SUVs clogging up the narrow and winding roads in the cemetery.
I stopped at the pit and got yelled at by some lazy bird nerds birding from inside their cars and made my way over to section H.
Sure enough I saw 15 crossbills mostly male and few females, other notable species included a downy woodpecker and a merlin.
Due to the old growth tree line, this cemetery is a birder’s heaven. I love that I can see just as many species as a trip up to the Lake.
I just wish that it wasn’t always so full of birders in big cars, I guess I will have to work on starting a birding car pool between now and spring migration.

One might think that the only reason for visiting a cemetery is to put flowers on the grave of a loved one. Outside of that it’d be morbid curiosity. However, Greenlawn Cemetery is a historical marker in Columbus, established in 1848. Yet, historians aren’t the only ones who might take interest in this place. If you are a naturalist, in the spring it is a hot spot for bird watching. The sign just inside the entrance even notes it. Apparently there is a flyway where the birds can nest and that is what attracts them. Even in the dead of winter there were huge groups of birds flitting and chattering about the grounds. Although, I would recommend the spring most of all because then the flowers and blooms on the trees would bring some cheer as well as that would be the time when there’d be the most variety of birds. And you would be wandering for quite a while as it is a huge place.

As a young adult, my mom used to go to cemeteries for picnic dates or late-​night romps, and even when I was little, she would drag me to the burial grounds where I would stand in very calculated spots to avoid stepping on dead bodies.
So, you’d think I would detest the places as an adult, but contrarily, I love going to a good graveyard.
Columbus’ biggest and best cemetery is Greenlawn. All the famous dead Columbus settlers are buried here, including Dr. Lincoln Goodale, Simon Lazarus, Gordon Battelle, Alice Shille, and the Neil, Thurber, and Kelton families. Also buried in Greenlawn is Samuel Bush, grandfather and great-​grandfather of both presidents George Bush; feel free to stop by and curse his grave.
Greenlawn has a lot of interesting sculptures and headstones including one of a young boy from the 1800s that is permanently littered with teddy bears and draped with Mardi Gras beads. I’m not sure of the story behind this one.
Sites at the cemetery include the butterfly garden, bridge, pond, champion trees, veteran sections, chapel mausoleum, garden mausoleum, personal mausoleums, obelisks, cremation island, and several large monuments. Additionally, Greenlawn is a great place to bird watch. Volunteers offer free tours through the property, but I can’t say I’ve been on one.
There are currently about 147,000 people buried here, and the cemetery estimates it can continue offering burial plots for another hundred years.
Here’s a fun fact for the kids: Columbus’ first cemetery, the North Graveyard, was located in the area now known as the Short North. It was founded in 1813 and functioned as the city’s main place of internment for nearly sixty years. Spurred by the building of the first Union Station (two more would follow) during the 1870s and 80s, those buried in marked graves were moved to the newer cemetery, Greenlawn. Much of the North Graveyard was also sold to early businesses. But the grave-​movers were not very thorough in their work. Hence, many business were built on top of inhabited cemetery plots. For years, land renovators have found aged corpses while excavating Short North sites, with the most recent find occurring in 2001. In an October 2006 article of the Short North Gazette, archaeologist Ryan J. Weller, who conducted the 2001 excavation, explained, «They had moved the obvious ones with tombstones. Families moved some [of the bodies]. Some were left because they didn’t know they were there. Also, the developer was told he could develop the land as soon as possible. He obviously didn’t care how he got them out… A ghoul would have done a better job of moving the bodies.»