Ohio Humanities grant to help Green Lawn examine cemetery’s history

On Apr 7, 2021

An Ohio Humanities grant was awarded to Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus Landmarks and the Columbus Library that will facilitate three virtual panel discussions on the historic cemetery, historical walking tours planned for late summer, and more. [Dispatch file photo]

The enduring history of Green Lawn Cemetery is reflected in the tombstones, mausoleums and monuments erected across its sprawling grounds on Columbus’ West Side .

As the final resting place for state and national dignitaries, thousands of military veterans, and regular people from many religious and ethnic backgrounds, the cemetery has come to represent not only a microcosm of Columbus, but all of Ohio. But maintaining the massive grounds — at 360 acres, it’s Ohio’s second-largest cemetery — as well as the aging infrastructure is no easy task.

Just ask Rodney Rogers, the volunteer president of the Green Lawn Cemetery Association‘s board of trustees and its only paid employee as executive director. So much effort is extended on preservation and restoration projects, Rogers said, that not as much attention can be directed to maintaining and sharing Green Lawn’s rich history.

The Lorax of Green Lawn: Randy Rogers takes trusted care of cemetery grounds, history

But thanks to a $6,910 grant from Ohio Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the history of Green Lawn Cemetery will soon come to life. Beginning Thursday, Columbus residents will be able to participate in a series of virtual panel discussions this month, followed by in-person walking tours of the historic grounds later this summer.

“Doing something with living history and historical research is different for us,” Rogers said. “Here at Green Lawn we try as best we can to embrace and record that early version of the rural cemetery that we started out as.”

The project that the Ohio Humanities grant will fund will mostly explore Green Lawn’s origins during the “rural cemetery movement” of the late 19th century, said Doreen Uhas-Sauer, who is on the Green Lawn Cemetery Association’s board of trustees.

Attitudes about death had begun to soften by the time the first person was buried at Green Lawn Cemetery in July of 1849.

At the height of the romantic era in the 19th century, the “rural cemetery movement” offered a welcome contrast to the older graveyards, churchyards and potters’ fields. And Green Lawn — with its winding paths and pristine trees — was a testament to the serene and natural quality that many began to associate with the passing of loves ones.

News: New wolf monument at Green Lawn Cemetery honors Columbus’ earliest settlers

As the years passed, the cemetery became the final resting places for immigrants and people from minority communities, including African-Americans, Jewish people and Latinos.

Invited scholars will examine that history and more in three weekly virtual panel discussions from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. that begin Thursday and are accessible through the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s website. The grant funds will mostly go toward stipends for the participating panelists, Uhas-Sauer said.

As more people are vaccinated against COVID-19, organizers hope that Columbus Landmarks Foundation volunteers will be able to host ticketed walking tours in the late summer that will correspond with each of the three panel discussions. The Columbus Metropolitan Libraries will similarly develop a complementary discussion guide for others who may be inspired to lead smaller discussions.

Additionally, the library staff will make and collect suggestions for further readings to be available from the library and will create an accessible digital file of relevant new and historic materials relating to Green Lawn and the Rural Cemetery Movement to aid future researchers.

“This is an exemplary project about an exceptional landmark in Columbus,” Patricia N. Williamsen, executive director of Ohio Humanities, said in an email to The Dispatch.

News: Columbus firefighter honored 150 years after his death

“Blending the scholarship of local historians and national scholars, it offers a more fulsome exploration of the 19th century garden cemetery movement and the ways in which Greenlawn came to reflect the diversity of our town,” Wiliamsen said. “We also appreciate the thoughtful way [cemetery officials] take into account the realities of programming during a pandemic by offering virtual panel discussions followed by socially distant walking tours to further illuminate the history.”