Oakdale Cemetery

Another OLLI class today. This was a tour of the oldest public cemetery in Wilmington in 1855 when the private church cemeteries were getting crowded. Even though it's in the middle of the city, it was considered a "rural" cemetery. 65 acres and it was modeled after the infamous Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts which was the first that was planned to resemble an oasis, a garden for the community to enjoy.  It was quite heavily planted, families could plant their own trees and shrubs and flowers on their owned plots. They could surround it with fences, benches or any ornamentation they wanted. So different from the sterile cemeteries with grids and uniformity. These tree monuments were apparently a fad during around the mid 1800s. Some were "full grown" and some when there was the death of a younger person were cut short or mid height as the life they depicted had been cut short. The guide is the cemetery superintendent and he was animated, well informed and very knowledgeable. He had previously worked at Arlington National Cemetery, but that was 21 years ago.  There's another very large and ornate plot in Extra. Their plot also had a 12 person mausoleum. I guess they had a large family.