How an Oakland cemetery became a popular park
A small group of teenagers are drinking beer and lounging around the 128-year-old granite Crocker Monument. From this post atop a windswept hill, the group has an enormous view of the bay, downtown San Francisco and the Oakland hills.They’re also surrounded by thousands of bodies.
The group is enjoying a warm afternoon at one of Oakland’s most popular parks – Mountain View Cemetery. Located at the end of Piedmont Avenue, the 291-acre cemetery and columbarium attracts hikers, sunbathers, dog walkers and day drinkers (and mourners too, of course) who take advantage of the stunning views and impressive monuments.
At 154 years old, Mountain View also hosts a number of celebrities – Black Panther Bobby Hutton is buried there, as are Bay Area hyphy originator Mac Dre, The Black Dahlia and dozens of local legends and dignitaries, including chocolate king Domingo Ghirardelli, coffee pioneer James A. Folger and Samuel Merritt.
Despite its now-central location and serene landscape, Mountain View Cemetery was never meant to be a place of recreation; in fact, designer Frederick Law Olmsted was vehemently against it. So how does the eternal resting place for more than 170,000 become a popular park?
Mountain View Cemetery was established in 1863 after Oakland – which, at the time, was 2.5 miles from the would-be burial ground – had rapidly outgrown two small graveyards near Lake Merritt and downtown, according to historical documents. Mountain View was part of the Rural Cemetery Movement, where the burial grounds had a park-like feel, designed with a romantic vision using English garden architecture and an emphasis on sanctuary.
Mountain View was designed by renowned park planner Olmsted, who also designed New York’s Central Park and drew from transcendentalist philosophy in his creation of the cemetery. Olmsted built winding roads along the slopes of six hills and planted Italian cypress and Lebanese cedar trees alongside California live oaks. Subscriptions sold for $25 for one plot at 7 by 15 feet and one share vote in the association’s stockholders meetings.
Oakland quickly grew around Mountain View, and the cemetery was at the terminus of several rail lines. Visiting a loved one at Mountain View Cemetery used to be a day trip from the center of town before becoming a short ride on the Piedmont horse railroad that operated from Seventh Street along what is now Piedmont Avenue to the cemetery gates.
Rural cemeteries such as Mountain View were built at a time when there were no public parks, art museums or botanical gardens in American cities, according to The Atlantic. They “stimulated the movement for public parks and the profession of landscape architecture,” Gayle Lenahan wrote in a research paper for Holy Names College.
“The most popular place for resort for pleasure-seekers of this (working) class is a burial ground on a high elevation,” Olmsted told Mountain View officials after visiting a cemetery in San Francisco. “I have, more than once, seen working men resort with their families to enjoy a picnic in the shelter of the tombstones, and hundreds every fine day make it the beginning and end of an effort at health-ful recreation.”
Yet Olmsted, who spent his life designing spaces for people to relax and play, urged the cemetery association to make sure this never happened to Mountain View. Nevertheless, the private organization kept its gates open to the public.
“We quickly lost his attitude and his design because he moved back to New York before the cemetery was finished and never came back,” said Dennis Evanosky, a local historian, Mountain View tour guide and author of two books on the cemetery. “He had all these directions on which trees to put where, and how to put hedges around things. Every family would put hedges around their plot, and it would be a sacred quiet place for people.”
The cemetery has had events regularly – from tulip showcases and Mother’s Day celebrations to a 5K race and bimonthly tours – for more than 100 years. A 1902 article in the Oakland Enquirer described a Memorial Day ceremony where “from early morning through every hour of the day … thousands had entered the cemetery gates, decorated their graves and turn homeward.”
Evanosky said he enjoys giving tours around the cemetery’s Civil War plot, where about 300 Union soldiers are buried, while Millionaire’s Row – a hillside row of monuments and mausoleums built in Egyptian, Classical and Celtic revival styles – invites intrigue from architecture buffs and Instagrammers alike.
“There are so many things — between bird watching and learning how to drive your car and using it as a park to walk – that you can forget that it’s actually a cemetery,” Evanosky said.
The cemetery is often an offbeat place for local adventure; Evanosky said he has seen Victorian and Edwardian costumers picnicking next to bikers and suntanners. Many likely have attended illegal nighttime parties among the tombs.
“Just go for a walk, unwind, whatever it is. I don’t think there’s a time when [relaxing at the cemetery] started; I just think it’s always just been that way,” Evanosky said.
Mountain View Cemetery is also an excellent date spot. “Taking people to drink 40s in the graveyard has gotten me laid more than any other date,” said Mark Davis, of Oakland. “One time I was on a date up there, and we went to this sneaky spot to get down, and found another couple already going at it.”