DEAR MAE JULIAN,
MAGNIFICENT CAVE HILL CEMETERY
I wrote about beautiful Cave Hill in a column several weeks ago, and since that time, have been deluged with inquires wanting to know more about the cemetery. I went out again, which is always a pleasure and one of new discovery. One can never go often enough, nor see all there is to see.
Cave Hill Cemetery has been Louisville’s foremost burying ground since 1848. Nearly 300 acres are set aside in perpetuity to ensure the sanctity of the magnificently landscaped setting where generations have been buried and generations to come will be laid to rest. The monuments of 119, 000 persons who helped forge this region reveal the breadth and strength of this splendid place. Here you will find the grave of George Rogers Clark. More recently, Kentucky Fried Chickens’ Col. Sanders was buried here.
Besides being a comforting and enlightening orchard in marble, granite, and bronze, Cave Hill is a most significant regional arboretum, containing over 500 species of trees and shrubs. It is also a wild life habitat, particularly for flocks of water birds, which reside along its steams and lakes.
Families have spent many an afternoon at Cave Hill, enjoying its beauty and watching the waterfowl, peacocks, swans, and many species of ducks in abundance. It is also a bird watchers paradise! There are trees in Cave Hill that will not be found in many other places. Plaques identify many of the unusual trees. There is nothing grim about Cave Hill. It is an absolutely stunning display of what intense planning and upkeep can bring to a place. Had a person ask if the graves are ever damaged. I replied that if you could do anything that gets by the watchful eyes of the friendly guards you might be able to pick a flower, but I doubt it. And oh, the flowers!!! To go to Cave Hill in the springtime is breathtaking. I have never seen so much as a weed anywhere. It is meticulously taken care of, and the people who go to visit feel a reverence as they pass through the high stone walls. I took my grandchildren out a couple of days ago to take pictures for this column, so I won’t be too gabby, but let you see a few of the 40 shots I took.
If you come to Cave Hill, remember there really is a cave, and you will find its’ opening near one of the lakes. I wish I had the whole newspaper to publish pictures, but a beautiful hardcopy titled Cave Hill Cemetery by Samuel W. Thomas is available and can be ordered through your local bookstore.
Hope you come soon!
Mae
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