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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.
View of the Memorial to the Battle of Ezra Church; Photograph by Erica Danylchak, 8 August 2008, Georgia Historic Landscape Initiative Files, Cherokee Garden Library, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center. In the summer of 2008, the Georgia Historic Landscape Initiative documented the history and current conditions of Westview Cemetery and assessed the site’s significance and level of integrity. The survey and accompanying documentation, including numerous photographs, have been placed on permanent file at the Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center. The Georgia Historic Landscape Initiative, a partnership between the Garden Club of Georgia, the National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Cherokee Garden Library, strives to document the state’s historic landscapes, disseminate information about its efforts, and ultimately promote the preservation of a vital part of this state’s heritage. So far, 109 historic landscapes have been documented through the efforts of volunteers, site managers, and research fellows. The Cherokee Garden Library would like to thank its partners for their continued support of this worthwhile endeavor. MANY THANKS TO: Mrs. T. Earl Taylor (Beverly), through The Garden Club of Georgia’s Historic Preservation Fund, donated funds for the summer 2008 Cherokee Garden Library Fellowship. Taylor currently serves as GCG’s State Board Historian and Archivist and the Chairman for the Historic Landscape and Garden Grants program. She is also a former President and member of the Ivy Garden Club in Columbus, Magnolia District. Thank you to Susan L. Hitchcock, historical landscape architect for the National Park Service’s Cultural Landscapes Program, for sharing her time and knowledge with the students in the Garden Library Research Fellows’ program. View of monuments and curvilinear circulation pattern; Photograph by Erica Danylchak, 13 August 2008, Georgia Historic Landscape Initiative Files, Cherokee Garden Library, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center. Returning to our Roots Planting & Re-Planting the Historic Southern Garden 17 th Biennial Conference on Restoring Southern Gardens & Landscapes September 24-26, 2009 Winston-Salem, North Carolina The year 2009 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Conference on Restoring Southern Gardens & Landscapes, which was first convened at Old Salem in 1979. In celebration of this milestone, the 2009 conference returns to its roots in addressing plants and planting of historic gardens in the South. Sessions include practical information on planting and maintaining the historic garden, sources for heirloom and historic native plants and case studies of historic landscape and garden restorations. In honor of the occasion, the popular conference plant sale will be expanded. Conference speakers include Peter Hatch, William Woys Weaver, Scott Kunst, Margaret Page Bemiss, Bill Patterson, Jim Rodgers and others. For program and registration information: 336-721-7361 / sgant@oldsalem.org Save the date and join us at Old Salem
Page 1 and 2: Anne Coppedge Carr (1917-2005) Foun
Page 3 and 4: MAJOR ACQUISITION IN HONOR OF ROBER
Page 5: GIFTS TO THE CHEROKEE GARDEN LIBRAR
Page 9 and 10: Mr. F. H. Boyd Coons Mr. and Mrs. F
Page 11 and 12: In Memory of Augusta Horsey Collins
Page 13 and 14: GIFTS TO THE CHEROKEE GARDEN LIBRAR
Page 15 and 16: BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT DONATIONS (cont

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