I took an amazing walk today. Through a cemetery. That's right. The sun shone brightly, the breeze danced around me, architectural and landscaping gems dazzled me. Yep. A cemetery. No, wait. It's not as morbid as it sounds. This was no ordinary cemetery ~ no ordinary day, no ordinary walk. We went to Mountain View Cemetery at the top of Piedmont Avenue, just off of Grand Avenue, in Oakland.
The walk was my friend S.B.'s idea and I am glad I took a break from my work to explore this part of Oakland I didn't know existed. Mountain View Cemetery was designed by the "Founder of American Lansdcape Architecture," Frederick Law Olmstead ~ his designs include New York's Central Park, the U.S. Capitol Grounds in Washington D.C., the campus grounds at Stanford University, and our breathtaking Yosemite Park. Olmstead's vision in designing the cemetery was that nature and human destiny are intertwined ~~ and you can see that in the way some of the final resting places were laid out, around certain natural elements. This natural-park-like cemetery is huge ~ 226 acres, including three separate Gothic, Tower, and Mausoleum chapels. The diversity of design, philosophy, and um, the "inhabitants," makes this an amazing place to visit. You gotta see it to believe it.
Olmstead transplanted Italian cypress, Lebanese cedar, and Italian stone pine, to join the native California live Oaks. The headstones, sarcophagi, and mausoleums include Arabic, Russian, Greek, and Art Deco designs. This cemetery is the final resting place for scores of famous Californians, including architects Julia Morgan (California's first female architect) and Bernard Maybeck ~ Charles Crocker, one of the founders of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads (whose mausoleum at the top of the hill enjoys an amazing view of downtown Oakland, the Bay, San Francisco, the Port of Oakland, and the Bay Bridge) ~ Warren A. Bechtel (um, yeah, as in founder of the world's largest engineering and construction services firm) ~ James Folger (as in the coffee) ~ Domingo Ghirardelli (as in the delicious chocolate) ~ and Captain William T. Shorey (the only black sea captain on the West Coast 1886). Regular people are buried here, too ~~ Civil War and World War II veterans, families born in early 1800, the two young brothers who died last year at the age of 20, and E. Wilkins and M. Wilkins, beloved husband and wife, whose headstone read, "Ready To Go."
We must have walked a few miles up and around the wide boulevards, and then up the steps and down the narrow curved lanes. A group of kids played hide-n-seek around the massive mausoleum of Samuel Merritt (1822-1890; Physician, Ship Master, Philanthropist; Regent of the University of California; and Mayor of Oakland). There were a few runners tackling the steep hills, and several speed cyclists taking advantage of the quiet, traffic-less paths. This was the most lively damn cemetery I have ever seen! Some of my favorite headstones:
| DOWNER |
(Yes, this was the deceased's last name, but that's all they engraved on the massive stone and it struck us as hilarious.)
| To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. |
The cemetery was so quiet and peaceful in fact, that one poor girl was even getting a driving lesson from her father. Our car seemed to be the only one parked on the grounds, so this poor girl kept trying to practice her parallel parking skills ~ it was not going well. Can you imagine learning how to drive in a cemetery? Another hilarious moment. There were also the various moments when I refused to walk on the grass over anyone's grave because, you know, haven't you seen those horror movies where the arm shoots out from the ground to grab the unsuspecting stroller's leg? Uh-uh, I stuck to the damn path, thank you.
Many of the headstones listed the deceased's line of work ~ such as "Woodman," or "Mason," or "Reverend." Obviously, these were the headstones from the 1800's. There was one headstone from the mid-1970's that said, "Certified Life Underwriter." Poor guy. I mean, if that's ALL you can think of to engrave on your FINAL RESTING PLACE, well, that's just sad. I mean, no disrespect, you know? I should not speak ill of the dead. But it was amazing at how many people we felt we "knew" today, even for a minute. Like "Cogswell," who died at the age of "79 years, 11 months, and 13 days" ~ but who's counting right? Cogswell must have been loaded because his mausoleum was the centerpiece of the cemetery, complete with a small plaza, fountains, and beautiful landscaping.
It wasn't surprising that at first, as I walked along the path, reading the names and bookend dates of strangers' lives, of course I began evaluating my own mortality, my own existence, and what trite saying I may have placed on my headstone. But then I remembered that I want to be cremated and have my ashes sprinkled in Ventana Wilderness or something. Instead of thinking of how I want my life to be summed up after I'm gone, I started thinking of all the parts that make up the total sum ~ the ones here and now while I'm around. I stopped thinking about death, and began thinking about life. And the amazing City I live in. And my amazing friends. And the indescribable view up on that hill. And how lucky I am. And then we went to have burgers and milkshakes at Barney's on Piedmont. What a strange and fun day ~ and it reminded me of part of this poem by Kabir, the universal Guru of Indian philosophy, who was born in India in 1398 A.D.:
| Friend, hope for the Guest . . . Jump into experience while you are alive! Think...and think... while you are alive. If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive, do you think ghosts will do it after? The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic just because the body is rotten -- that is all fantasy. What is found now is found then. If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death. If you make love with the divine now, in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire. So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is, Believe in the Great Sound! |
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