ashley wright mcintyre lecture series established - Atlanta History ...

WESTVIEW CEMETERY:
A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE WORTHY OF PRESERVATION
Westview Cemetery, established in 1884, is a historically significant
cultural landscape within the city of Atlanta, which visually illustrates
the evolving conception of the American cemetery. Founded as
“a landscape park, in which may safely rest the dead,” Westview
Cemetery is a breathtakingly beautiful place where history lives.
Reflecting significant characteristics of late-nineteenth century cemetery movements,
curvilinear drives divide the rolling terrain of Westview into large, rounded sections
of hallowed ground. Meanwhile, an amazing variety of mature trees and shrubs dot
the pastoral panorama. Willows, hemlocks, hickories, ginkgos, water oaks, white oaks,
loblolly pines, deodar cedars, and Italian cypress are just a few of the tree specimens
found here. Flowering trees and shrubs growing within the gates include southern
magnolias, native dogwoods, tea olives, crepe myrtles, hydrangeas, nandinas, and
rhododendrons. Burford hollies, a cultivar discovered here by and subsequently named
after one of the cemetery’s early superintendents, Thomas Burford, are also in abundance.
The diversity of tree and shrub specimens in the developed sections of the cemetery
equals that documented in the 1933 publication, The Garden History of Georgia,
1733-1933, and remains a character-defining feature of this sacred place.
In the older sections of the cemetery, distinctive, sculptural monuments and elaborate
grave markers dot the undulating landscape. The original stone gatehouse, crenellated
stone water tower, and receiving tomb built of Georgia marble and brick clearly mark
the site’s long history. However, in the northwest corner of the property, developed
as the Garden of Memories in the 1940s, Westview follows the memorial park pattern
popularized in the early twentieth century. Statuary gardens are surrounded by
sections of lawn where bronze grave markers lie flush to the ground. A serpentine
garden, bordered by sinuous stone walls, stretches across one section. The Garden of
Time, Pool of Quiet, and Boxwood Garden add visual interest to the landscape and
create central features encouraging reflection. Meanwhile, a memorial to the Battle of
Ezra Church commemorates the conflict that was fought on and around these grounds
just 20 years before the cemetery’s founding. Atop the highest hill in the northwest
portion of the cemetery, an elaborate masonry mausoleum dominates the landscape.
By Erica Danylchak,
CGL Special Projects Associate
Historic Postcard of the Entrance to Westview
Cemetery, Postcard Collection, VIS
93.362.02, Kenan Research Center,
Atlanta History Center.