Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum reveals how a sprawling landscape honors diverse lives through enduring symbols and monuments.

This book explores the rich history and beautiful imagery of Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in Cincinnati, Ohio. Chartered in 1845, 450 acres are beautifully landscaped, with another 300 acres in reserve, making it one of the largest non-profit burial grounds in the U.S. With poignant photographs, the book illustrates how the deceased are memorialized with symbols, sculptures, epitaphs, and engravings. But not all gravestones follow tradition; some are considered controversial for their unconventional symbolism.
Spring Grove is the final resting place for a diverse group of congressmen, politicians, "beer barons," Olympic medalists, entertainers, writers, and media figures, along with sixteen infamous women and one dog. Interred within are 999 Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, along with more than forty generals including Hooker, Lytle, Cook, and Cox.
Among its most captivating monuments are the Dexter Mausoleum, Fleischmann Temple, Soldiers Monument, and the Norman Chapel, which once served as a jail. As one artist remarked, "Only a place with a heart and soul could make for its dead a more magnificent park than any which exists for the living."