Faith Works 9-23-06
Jeff Gill

A Lively Night Among the Dead

Next Friday evening, Sept. 29 at 6:00 pm, drop by one of Licking County’s great historic documents, artistic achievements, and path-breaking social innovations.
That would be Cedar Hill Cemetery, out Rt. 79 going north on Newark’s edge.
Founded here just after 1850, the national "rural cemetery" movement began less than twenty years before with Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, the absolute epicenter of art and culture for America in those days. The idea of an idyllic, attractive setting for meditation and strolling among the monuments and mausoleums of the departed gave birth to parks in cities like Central Park in New York, the national park movement, and pretty much all of what we now call landscape architecture.
Our local story nicely echoes the national account. Newark had a cemetery just west of downtown, past Fourth St. north of Main. The city grew and the burials were relocated to Sixth St., where the Licking County Historical Society now has a home, our hosts for next Friday.
Only a mound marks this spot, which received committals from around 1812 to 1850. Once again, the growing city meant it was time to move the necropolis, and longtime civic leader Israel Dille, who had promoted the development of Courthouse Square as a "botanical garden," can be seen maneuvering to press Newark to try something grand.
Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore: all had tried the arcadian experiment. Sculpted grounds along with stately sculpture in a secluded, peaceful spot were a rest from the bustle of the newly industrialized cities, and a tonic for reflection and prayer. Could Newark create such a spot, and get the citizenry behind it as a central, civic cemetery?
Well, Israel Dille had helped create our modern courthouse area, our first arboretum, and the pioneer public school board, so this was but a small challenge. Going bankrupt trying to bring the first railroads through town did keep him from investing personally in the project, but his likely role is confirmed by the fact that he was given the largest lot at the top of the highest spot on Cedar Hill.
If you’ve been there, and don’t recall a large, imposing Dille marker, don’t worry. You’re not going blind. He has no stone, no inscription.
Would you like to know why? Come join us on Friday where your faithful scrivener will portray . . . oh, you’d figured that out already, hadn’t you?
The Licking County Historical Society asks visitors to arrive at the Gothic Chapel inside the gates at 6:00 pm, where a brief talk will precede a hike (dress accordingly!) to meet a few of the permanent residents, dramatically portrayed, near their places of repose. Guests are asked to contribute $5.00, and society members are free; you may call 345-4898 for more info.
We promise you’ll leave knowing a bit more about life and faith and death and more, and we also promise . . . that you’ll get to leave!

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio; share your tales of memorials and cemeteries to knapsack77@gmail.com.