Transcripts For CSPAN3 Oak Hill Cemetery 20161024

Name is dave jackson. I have a great privilege of serving as superintendent at oak hill cemetery. I am in my fifth year. My predecessor was there for 28. I do not think i will be there that long, but i will be, but not as superintendent. Thats another story. [laughter] mr. Jackson i wanted to talk about oak hill and its history and how it came to pass. I want to invite you to visit oak hill. The best way to experience oak hill is to come and visit. Our price is right, unless you make longer arrangements. It is really quite a place to see. Hope the late today, you will learn a little bit more about it and why it is there. And you will see even more on the fifth of november when we tour around the place of it. So, as mentioned, this is a 30thre of the main gate at and r street. Before i talk about that to my want to explain a bit about the Garden Movement of the cemetery and how it began. Late 1820s or certainly 1830s, there was a group in boston, cambridge started the first of the cemeteries who really started the romantic or the Garden Cemetery movement at mount auburn cemetery. Happenedn that that was that our society in general recognized that the old concept of the churchyard graveyard, or church graveyards, was becoming unworkable. Crowded, becoming there was development around them, and it was a need to look at cemeteries and how we commemorate those who are passed in a different way. There were a group of gentlemen who put together mount auburn toetery, it is about one five or 50 acres. It is quite large. They started a movement of Cemetery Development that went up and down the east coast into the midwest. The idea was a large area that had open spaces that were to one extent or another that utilized monuments and gave a place, in ,hose days in the 19 century for families to celebrate the lives of those who had passed. It was common in 19 century for families to visit on sundays, visit the family plot. They would bring a blanket and picnic and those things. They would all gather at the family plot. Certainly at mount auburn, also oak hill. There were other cemeteries that sprang up as part of this movement. Sorry, green im hood, a large one in philadelphia, Hollywood Cemetery down in richmond. Louisville, there , another in. Louis cincinnati, cleveland. They sprung up all over the country from the 1830s or 1880s timeframe as that concepr 1880s timeframe as that concept for cemeteries. If you visit one of those cities, without now that i know youre interested in cemeteries, and you look for one of those historic cemeteries, go in visited. There are all interesting. Theyre all very pleasant spaces to be in. Oak hill, i show this picture not only to say this is the in probably the way you are mostly familiar with. This is the main gate. Those pillars where the gates are my look familiar to you guys threeare a similar set of just south of the castle. It turns out these were originally at the smithsonian. For whatever reason they were rejected and which of them. Design a threat with a renwick design. They were recreated. The ones of south of the castle were put in place. They are the same material that was used extensively in washington construction in the 19th century. Quarry of the potomac river. It was used extensively, that is the stone on these pillars. It was also used to trim a couple of the buildings in the cemetery. See our go by, you will gate. There is looking at it from the other side, a gatehouse behind it. You can see an little bit of that sandstone trim on the gatehouse here and some other places, but not in this picture. When you come and there is a sign that says welcome in here is what you can and cannot do. I guess all places have that. When you think about oak hill, what happens this is william corcoran. He was a Great Washington philanthropist and made his first money financing the mexicanamerican war in the 1840s. His first large philanthropic project in washington was oak hill cemetery. In 1849 and he bought marthas of land from washington descendents and he hired an engineer to lay the cemetery out and design an extensive drainage system. E hired the architect to design the chapel. It so happened that at that same period fof time, he had bought a house unlawfully at square that was about 40 years old. Daniel webster lived there before him. He hired the architect to do that project on his house. I have a feeling there was a conversation between the two of them that went something like, by the way james, would you please design this Little Chapel for the cemetery project . And of course he said yes. ,hen he designed was a very gothic revival style building that mr. Corcoran was our founder. I will finish a story. The other thing he did was he went to congress. In those days, the business of the district was done in the u. S. Congress. He had a notforprofit and a charter, and he donated land and all the improvements for the notforprofit entity. We have operated that way for 167 years. I work for a board of four volunteers, all of who have an interest in the cemetery. We have about six generations at oak hill. All of us. One interest or another in the cemetery. But mr. Corcoran started it. He was our great benefactor. A map, and you cannot see anything on it, i understand that, it is to detail. But i want to point out a couple things. Here we go you that isis r street now, where the main gate is now come at 30th. Long theorder is a creek. When you drive Rock Creek Park way and you look up and see the cemetery, you looking up along this area here and looking at the area right of this corner of the cemetery. , theto further orient you house backs up to that spot. Q street is here. Then the estate is here at 28 in this area. Dumbarton house here, 30th s treet it has the same pillars, the red sandstone pillars, but the main entry is here. When mr. Corcoran first bought land, he only bought about 15 acres. The border of which was probably right about here. Then about 10 years later, the family who owned at that point davidsons, they fell on hard times. They sold their land which back here. Another 10 acres. Acres over about 25 about the first eight or 10 years of the cemeterys life. ,600y there is about 19 soulds souls buried there. We average 45 or 50 burials a year. Either casket burials or creation cremation burials. This is the units entry area this is the elipse entry. This is the chapel. Im going to show you a lot more pictures of that area. This handsome gentlemen, i like his hairline. It is James Renwick jr. I think this is a later picture, but he was only about 30th this point. He was the fellow who designed our chapel. Now, the materials on that, i would just touch briefly on. They wanted a nondenominational structure. Use going to select materials that had different meanings and different religions. ,or instance, the purple roof it is Vermont Purple slate, purple has different meanings in different religions. Same thing with the red sandstone. Granite called gneicce. Quarry upom another river, i think on the virginia side. But he selected those colors for a reason, and there are also shapes within the interior of meanhapel that also Different Things across different religions. I guess im in my fifth winter, and every time a season comes around i am not a great photographer but i start walking outside in seeing things, and you start taking pictures of everything. I have a million pictures of Different Things. I will show you Different Things about the chapel. In al come back to this few minutes. But you can see how striking this Little Chapel is. That is the back. Stainedglass angel in the back that is shown here. And then on the inside, you can see how that angel lights up. The pictures do not do this place justice, but it is quite striking. A fairly extensive restoration project on this building about three years ago. When you come on november 5, i am going to tell you stories about that. I am not going to go into that extensively today, but hopefully im giving you a look. It was quite interesting to do. The cornerstone in the chapel is 1850. Took three years to build. Materials and some of the shapes of the windows and so forth i do not mean to do that the shades of the windows and so forth were designed to be nondenominational. We do have some christian things in the front that we take out from time to time if necessary. We still use the building for cemeteries. We have Community Association meetings in those things from time to time. We do a wedding in there occasionally. We still use it just as much as we possibly can. That is the altar just below the stainedglass window. It was a nice picture. Stand at the altar and turn around and look back out the door, that is what you see. And one of the things that is also prominent when you come into the cemetery, which is right there, is this statute. You will not be able to read the name of that statute, but this pain,tatue of john howard who wrote a song in the 19th century called home sweet home. It was part of a play that he were 1830s,1820s and it was a song from the play. It became tremendously popular in the 19th century. So much so that it was sung during the civil war. The troops saying it. It finally the troops sang it. If i got to a point when the generals for baby troops from singing it. Did, they would wake up and it would be a lot of deserters who went home. So, the generals would not let them sing. Payne did a lot of things, not only a playwright, and actor, a appointedt he was counsel general for the United States to Northern Africa and he served in tunisia for many years, and he died in the late 1850s, i believe. He was buried in tunisia. The statue was put up in his honor. About 1880, our friend mr. Thought that his remains should be at oak hill cemetery. He made arrangements to ship, to exhume the body, ship the remains and the statue back to the United States. There was a story in the New York Times at the time that casket came ins and stayed in the Newark City Hall for a week. Tens of thousands of people came by to pay their respects. The next set was, it was brought step was, it was brought to washington. We know it as the there were tens of thousands who came to pay their respects. Reintertime came to his remains, there was an event put together, and it was whothing like 3000 people came to the event, and it included the president and Congress Members and congressional members and Supreme Court justices. Band played. The neighborhood was jammed. To do thise an event reinterment of his remains. If you think about it, he was really a rockstar of the 19th century. We are very proud that he is part of this entry feature at oak hill. In 1883. Done there is part of what happened at that point in conjunction with that event that ties the chapel, and im not going to tell you about that today. Youre going to have to come in november to hear about it. But that was a great event for oak hill. Mr. Her feature, there is paynes statue again. Somebody when the statue was originally done, it showed payne with a beard. And mr. Corcoran said i never knew him with a beard, take it off. So, he does not have a beard here. What mr. Corcoran wanted, he always got. That is why there is no beard. The other gentleman honored is wayne pygmy, who is a wellknown clergy person in the midatlantic area. Cleric whopiscopal was very well thought of and did a lot of things in this area. As a matter of fact, he presided at the event honoring john payne. Unfortunately he died a week later. He was another good friend of mr. Corcoran, so he had the statue put in place to honor the reverend. This is a picture of the gatehouse. If you remember when you driving at 30th street, on the left is a gatehouse. This is the gatehouse. My guess on this is that this is about 1900 or so. I am saying that because this section back here, which is the in the, was added 1890s. The gatehouse was built for the superintendent and his family to live in from the getgo. Is infice of the cemetery the lower floor in the front right here. The rest of it was living quarters for the cemetery. My wife and i and our cats and dog live there. It is great. It is living in an old house, but it is really great. The neighbors are quiet. [laughter] it has just been a real joy to live in the community and be there all the time. Time, dod from time to you ever see a ghost . To that is no. I think the reason for that is, other than the circumstances of death or religious belief, i think everyone who is at oak hill is happy. What better place could they be . Not ever see anything like that. Now, this is looking at the gatehouse from inside, kind of the back of the house. I think this is probably in the 1920s or 1930s. We do not have air conditioning although we do have air windows, plumbing, electrical. This is probably one of those sunday afternoon things where a group of folks out here taking life easy and being in a very pleasant space in the cemetery. House, atk of the that point it is not changed at all. There is a bell that rings every hour on the hour every day between 9 00 and 5 00. It resides in this tower. It did not work for a while. I got it back on and the neighbors came inside. Everybody was excited about that. Every once in a while. I try to take a nap in the room right there. I can take a one hour nap. A nap until 2 01, and when the bill goes off at 3 00, you dont have any choice. You get out. The flooring and so forth is original. It is mostly original. We are going to have some drawings in short order. We are going to record as much of the original conditions of the house as possible and over the next few years or so we will do some renovation upgrading to some extent. I do not know how much yet, but we are starting down that path. When you walk around in the cemetery, there are several monuments that are significant, and i like to talk about some of these. Someaybe, if there is significance to the monument. This piece of stone is probably about 12 feet tall. You can see the angel image in it. Family,for the spencer and sam spencer was president of the railways at the turn of the century, and he passed at 1906. The headquarters was here in d. C. After he passed, the headquarters was moved to new york in the family went up there. All of the family members who have passed since then are brought back down, and there are new markers for them individually made of a similar style and size and so forth. We call that a ledger stone, that lays flat on the ground. But in 1927 or so, the Spencer Family had this stone commissioned by tiffany. Friends tellian me they have not seen another tiffany stone in a cemetery like this. But if you look on the backside of the stone, there is the little tiffany symbol you see on jewelry. It is quite a unique piece, as far as cemeteries and tiffany go. I sort of think the stone was put in place and that the artist came and did a lot of the work onsite. That would still be a large piece of stone to handle during that timeframe. Towas probably in the 1927 1928 when it was done. Is willy young fellow lincoln. Willy lincoln was the middle child, middle son, of the lincolns. In 1862, inay february of 1862 of yellow fever. At the time of his passing, there was a family whose last name was caroll, who had just recently completed a cave mausoleum. Map,u remember from my the northern border of the cemetery runs near the creek. It looks out over the creek. There is a row of these cave s built over there. When he passed, it was the plan that he would return to illinois when abe finished his service. The story was there was a large funeral in a church near the white house. After the funeral, the hearse brought the casket over oak hill, and there was another shorter service in our chapel. And mrs. Lincoln was too overcome in order to tend to the second ceremony. But mr. Lincoln and robert, the oldest son, and some other close family people did come. And then the casket was taken down and put into the carol family mausoleum, which is right there. And then, the story goes further. This boy was really mourned by both of his parents. From time to time, a blank in would get on a horse from time to time, abe lincoln would get on a horse and ride down to oak hill and sith with the boy. This happened on several occasions. I do not have a picture of this, but i am told after the assassination, you know there was a long train procession that went through a large part of our draped with the flag casket of abe lincoln on a rail car. I am told there is a picture that shows that casket and a much smaller flag draped casket next to it, which was willy. Now, theres another piece to that story that you are going to have to come on november 5 and hear as well. [laughter] this greekstyle structure is a family mausoleum. Eustis. Side it says on the other side it says corcoran. That is the corcoran family mausoleum. There is a crypt under that structure where the caskets go. Is corcoran on this side and eustis on the other side. There is only one child that became an adult. Mr. Corcoran certainly has a significant structure within our cemetery. It is quite pretty. Sits alsoay, overlooking the creek. John van ness, he was the 10th mayor of washington dc they lost a young daughter in the 1820s or 1830s. This building was erected, i believe it was on 9th street. And her remains were put there. Buildingights to the over a couple of generations moved their descendents. Those descendents then have the building taken down and at oakted on a knoll hill. There are other family members that are entered there. This is a case where the internment are in a crypt below the structure. But that is a very significant structure. You can kind of get an idea of its scale and so forth from this picture. It is certainly distinctive because of its roof. This is one that you can see if the leaves are off of the trees from Rock Creek Parkway. But dont stop and try throw brick. I would also point out to you, and maybe you have noticed from some of these pictures, a very popular monument in the 19 century. Dc for in washington obvious reasons. We have them in various stages of decoration and size. Granite. Isks are well, some are marble. There are other decorations, but you will notice that the obelisks are very prevalent here. In other cemeteries, i see them, but not to the extent we have in oak hill. Mr. Stanton is buried at oak hill. Lincolnsse, he was secretary of war. The one, at the time of the assassination was inside the room. And when lincoln passed, there is a line that goes on with the ages, i know i am not saying it right, but i am sure you will recognize me stumbling through that quote. Thank you very much. And this was, i think it was from the last museum. I have tried to find a picture that worked better and this seems to be the best one. There is his monument. This is an obelisk. That is another rather significant monument within the cemetery. Uriah forrest. He is the most senior of our president s ancestors in the cemetery. He was a revolutionary war figure. I understand he was on washingtons staff during the revolutionary war and later became the mayor of georgetown. In 1820 or 1830. As was the case in other places, he was buried first somewhere else and then moved to oak hill. And so, what happened in cemeteries across the country was this movement i described earlier. As development took over, cemeteries, existing cemeteries, were eliminated. The remains were moved elsewhere and the spot was developed. Was originally buried in the presbyterian Burial Ground in georgetown, which today is a park. We have a number of folks who were moved to oak hill from full to parvolta park. Mr. Forrest was one of those folks who were moved. When you walk around, you will see commemorations for revolutionary war soldiers. There is at least one doesnt or mordozen or more. That is how they ended up at oak hill. We also have a number, as you might guess, of civil war folks from both sides. There are several stories about them and spies and all kinds of things that you will have to come on november 5 to see. Forrest. Mr. Arent nearlyks as prominent in history and so forth. But they lived in georgetown for a long time the for the moved to bethesda. They were in bethesda for the last 10 or 15 years of their lives, but they knew a lot of people in georgetown. They were always worried about where they were going to park. On their stone, if you cant read this says, we finally found a place to park in georgetown. [laughter] you will see that on the tour. I put it on every tour. We all understand what it means, but i thought that was a cute thing for them to do. Ofse are some old pictures the cemetery and when the cemetery was started, the land that mr. Corcoran bought was called parrots woods. It was very heavily wooded. There were some 35 or 36 larger trees that started there. Over time, those trees have gone away. These were pictures taken during the 19th century, obviously because you know, here is a horsedrawn something looking back over his shoulder. You can see some of the monuments and such. I think that is van ness, but i am not sure. This is looking east. There is the chapel. Su can see there are trees thathat shaded that area. It started off much more forrest than it is today. This is another monument that i s part of a family plot for the howards. This happens to be a piece that was bronze. Mr. Howard was the inventor of the ibm punchcard, and he had a very sizable house in georgetown i think on 29th street. Gatehouse. H the these armethese are some interis taken by one of my predecessors at the end of the century. I think i am the 15th or 16th superintendent. But this gentleman and his wife, and i think young son, this is in the living room or library in the house. Where they are. Of course, the wallpaper has changed and the light fixtures have changed. I think this was a gas fixture in the living room here, which of course is no longer there. I dont know how they dressed like that and lived in d. C. , but they did, obviously. [laughter] now, we have a Camelback Ridge part of the cemetery, down in the southeast corner. Several years ago, we built a new structure for cremation and urnments. It was sort of a waste area up until that time. And our board looked at that and said, lets do something with that. We found the stone, and the way to set that up. If you want to find a contemplation spot like no other , and there are several like this in the cemetery, but it is just as pleasant as it can be. I show you this picture, it is a winter picture, and you can see how the walkways go. This is looking up the hill. When the cemetery was laid out originally, most of it was laid out in family plots. The idea was that families would buy sections of the cemetery and several generations would be buried there. And so, many of the monuments that are sizable monuments have several inscriptions on them with names through the years, through the generations. But when the cemetery was built, a very expensive drainage system was put in. ,hese pathways were put in with the stone gutters and so forth that collected the drain water and sent it to another line downhill and eventually into rock creek. When you walk around in oak hill, you will be these markers, like this. My angle is not very good right here. They are metal square pieces, and they go down to the ground. They have numbers on them and that is how we define the lot numbers. And so, our records have a file for each lot and a diagram of that lot. And within that diagram, there off,ite numbers measured it is not to scale, but pretty close, measured off to individual casket size. The practice there an has always been that we bury one casket over another. That uncle know george, and then autnt sue is on top of him. So, we have a diagram of all of those sites and who is where. It has been pretty accurate. I have only had one surprise now in about five years when somebody was not obviously documented the way it was actually done. But it has been pretty accurate. Someday we will get those up online where they can be looked at. However, we do have a website cemeterydc. Org. L on that website, it locates those interments by lot number. Byre is a map that shows you section where those particular lot numbers are. If you are that curious when you come over and want to find somebody, look on the website first and find a lot number. If not, stop by the office and we will point you in the right direction. This is another really pretty picture of a lane that has to ulip magnolias on one side and cherries on the other. Bloomingally start around the same time and one of the great times to come visit oak hill is about that springtime timeframe because there is just lots of blooming material. It is just so pleasant to be in there. And now im going to show you some azaleas. One becauseed that it does this around the stone. This may be the same one i showed you a minute ago. Thats from a different direction. That is the gatehouse. And even in the winter. It becomes real pretty. One of the things i think is interesting is there are some sculptures. Tusmentioned the augustines piece. What i mentioned a minute ago. It was designed so that it covers our 12 inch stone covers that are about this thick. We are encouraging families to become more artful in how they memorialize themselves or a loved one on that piece of slate. We have a stonecutter doing the work. There are 400 of these niches within this structure. Eventually, it will become a really interesting sculpture display. No two will be the same. They will all have Different Things on them. We have a palm scene on one of them. Another family wanted a face portrait of their mother. There is just all kinds of things that families are coming up with to put on this cover for that stop. For that spot. Over time, it will be an interesting display of sculpture. And i amgentlemen really proud of these guys. Im the rookie. Years,s, 47 years, 14 and five years. These guys do a lot of good things. The interesting thing i think aout oak hill, we dont own backhoe or a riding mower. We mow everything we can with walk behind mowers. Dig at comes time to grave, and we do, it is pitching shovels. Feet, it ist nine nine feet down. Nine feet,se guys is but they know how to dig that, and they are great diggers. We are very fortunate to have those gentlemen. They just do great stuff. So, i have spoken probably more than i should have. I guess i am supposed to take questions. Does anybody have any questions about oak hill . [laughter] i was the general manager at country clubs and city clubs for about 230 years. My wife was related to the superintendent at oak hill for many years. And if you are a d. C. Resident, you might remember, joe was the volunteer Police Officer who was killed while he was directing traffic in wisconsin. After his passing, his wife, who also worked in the office, was made the superintendent. Wanted toecided she retire, one thing led to another and here we are. My wife and i have gone back to indianapolis. We have decided the only way we want to come back to d. C. Was, she wanted to live in georgetown and i did not want to have a commute. [laughter] so, check, check. That is how it worked out. Yes maam . [indiscernible] actually, you can drive in. Those gates are open for the week until 4 30. The walkin gate is open on the weekends on saturdays between 11 00 and 4 00 and on sundays, 1 00 to 4 00. And you can drive in, park inside, and walk the grounds. You have to remember, we are laid out in horse and buggy days. If you are going one way and the other guy is going one way, it gets a little sporty, but if you learn your park and way around, we would be glad to have you. Yes maam . Ww. Cspan. Org [indiscernible] if you come in and ask for us to show you something, we will do that. [indiscernible] that is a very good question. Thank you for asking me that. There is no requirement of any kind. Oak hill was started as a nondenominational cemetery open to all. Over the years we have had various amounts of space that is available. During some periods of time it has been pretty limited. If i go out on our street and stop people and say, did you know there is Space Available on oak hill, nine out of 10 of them will say, it has been full for years, but it is not. There is not a requirement of any kind, other than it is georgetown real estate. It is a little pricey. [laughter] yes maam . Maam. Anyone else . Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. [applause] you are watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming every weekend on cspan 3. Follow us on twitter cspanhistory, and to keep up for with the latest history news. After i came up with my idea for reproductive rights, i went and research. I knew i could find information on the events in the news. That would help me figure out what points i wanted to say, and how to form my outline. I dont think i took a methodical approach to this process. You could if you wanted, but i asnk with a piece as dense this, it is a process of working and reworking. When i was trying to come up with my actual theme, i was doing my research at the same time. I would come up with an idea and think, that would be a great shot. That would give me an idea of Something Else to focus on, and then i would research on that. The entire process was rebuilding on other things. You keep doing it until you get the finished product. Theme, whats is the most urgent issue for the new president and congress to address in 2017 . Our competition is open to middle school and High School Students grades six through 12. Alone, or in ark group of up to three degrees a five to seven minute documentary. Alone, or ininclude cspan prod explore opposing opinions. The 100,000 will be awarded and shared with 150 students and 53 teachers. The grand five 5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. This deadline is january 20, 2017. Mark your calendars and help us spread the word to student filmmakers. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1970 nine, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Television People companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Each week, american artifacts takes you to museums and historic places. We visited Woodrow Wilsons house in washington, d. C. , where the 28th president retired in 1921, after leading the nation through world war i and its diplomatic aftermath. He died here three years later. The executive director leads us through the house and highlights objects that