Cemeteries are more than burial grounds for those who have passed on. They are keys to unlocking the history of a community.
“It's a place for the dead, but there's a lot of life to be found here as well,” said Mera Cardenas, executive director of Canalway. “Whether your ancestors are buried here or not, you understand the community that you call home a little bit more.”
Canalway, a nonprofit that preserves the cultural heritage of the Ohio and Erie Canalway throughout Cuyahoga County, hosts programs to connect people to the region’s history. The recent Buried History Days offered learning opportunities around cemetery exploration and preservation.
“Highlighting the connections that the living can make not only with the dead but with each other in these places helps us become a stronger community,” Cardenas said.
Northeast Ohio is home to several historic cemeteries, notably Glendale Cemetery in Akron which opened in 1839. Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery was established 30 years later.
As Cleveland’s West Side population grew in the latter half of the 19th century, residents expressed a need for a cemetery similar to Lake View, which is on the city’s East Side.
That led to the establishment of Riverside Cemetery in 1876. Located across from MetroHealth hospital on Pearl Road in the Brooklyn Centre neighborhood, Riverside sits on what used to be farmland owned by the Brainard family.
Symbolism and stories
Cardenas walked through the grounds of Riverside Cemetery on a recent autumn morning pointing out unique headstones.
“Each one of these headstones, there's a story behind it,” she said. “Some of the stories might be painful, some of the stories might be uplifting. But you could research any one of these people and find something really interesting about them. Or you might find nothing about them, and that's also kind of interesting.”
Symbolism on gravestones is a study of its own, and many common signs can be spotted throughout Riverside.
“That’s the other thing you find in historic cemeteries is incredible art and sculpture,” Cardenas said.
While names and symbolism on headstones can tell the story of one person or family, looking around at the layout of a cemetery can speak to the origins of an entire community.
“It tells us about our immigration patterns, it tells us about the way we segregated our society,” Cardenas said. “Jews and Christians are buried differently. Blacks and whites are buried in different cemeteries or different parts of the cemetery.”
Importance of preservation
Inside the castle-like gatehouse that greets visitors at Riverside, Jamie Lynne Owens manages the day-to-day operations of the cemetery, such as maintaining records and planning burials. But diving into history is her favorite part of the job.
“When I look up the history of the families, keep the family's history alive and talk about the people that maybe haven't had their names spoken in 100 years, that’s definitely one of the things I find most interesting,” Owens said.
Owens gave a presentation on some of the notable residents buried within Riverside’s 96 acres as part of Canalway’s Buried History Days. She’s also co-author of a recently published book on the cemetery’s history.
While preserving the legacy of residents at Riverside, Owens is also continuing her own family’s legacy at the cemetery, which includes about 10 different family members working at the cemetery throughout the last 100 years.
“My interest comes from when I was working here in high school on Saturdays with my grandmother,” Owens said. “This kind of became something that fell into my lap, and I love every minute of it.”
