On Saturday, May 4th, we’ve got a couple things on the schedule at Greenlawn Cemetery. First, we will be having a Guided Bird Walk followed by a Clean-up (picking up trash, weeding and mulching the Conservatory garden, etc.). You’re invited! You can come to both or if you can’t make it to both, we’d love to see you at one or the other.
Guided Bird Walk information:
!! For this event, we ask that there be no dogs or children under the age of 10 years old due to the nature of this event. !!
Date: Sat, May 4, 2019 Time: 7:00AM-9:00AM Where: Greenlawn Cemetery, 57 Orne St, Salem, MA – please meet in front of the office just inside the Orne St entrance What to bring: binoculars (if you have them), friends, neighbors, yourself! 🙂
Clean-up information:
Date: Sat, May 4, 2019 Time: 9:00AM-12:00PM — immediately following the Guided Bird Walk Where: Greenlawn Cemetery, 57 Orne St, MA – please meet at the Dickson Memorial Chapel What to bring: Plastic bags will be provided.
The rain date for BOTH events is Sat, May 11, 2019.
Please join us in celebrating the 125th anniversary of the day Mr. Walter Scott Dickson gifted the beautiful High Victorian Gothic stone chapel and attached conservatory to the City of Salem in memory of his wife, Georgia. This event is free and open to the public, so, please – bring a friend! (Or two, or three…)
We will be highlighting the story of Mr. Dickson as well as delving into the history of the Dickson Memorial Chapel and Conservatory. If you’ve never heard the story before of how a loving husband envisioned and brought to life an eternal showing of his love for his bride, Georgia, then please come! The Chapel will be open from 10:00AM through 1:00PM for viewing with the speakers beginning at 10:30AM.
We will have some items for sale to aid in our fundraising efforts toward the restoration of the Dickson Memorial Chapel and Conservatory. There will be two oil paintings featuring scenes from within the cemetery available, as well as historic postcards, nature photo cards, DVDs from past tours, t-shirts (long and short sleeve), ball caps, and more for sale and/or silent auction. General photos of these items can be seen at our Items for Sale link (also accessible from the link at the top of our home page).
This year’s fall event is a free family friendly History & Nature Scavenger Hunt featuring all things Greenlawn where folks can learn about the history of the cemetery and those connected to it as well as the natural elements of this unexpected sanctuary from all things urban and developed. This event runs from 10:00AM until 1:00PM and the Dickson Memorial Chapel and adjacent Conservatory Garden will be open for viewing and mingling during that time. There will also be a free raffle to enter for prizes. Parking is available along Orne St for easy access to the Orne St gate – from there, the Chapel is just to the left and behind the main office building (brick building just inside the gate).
Feel free to bring yourself, your family, your friends – we look forward to seeing you there! If you have any questions, please contact us here.
Summer gardens might be winding down but thanks to the kindness of friends last Saturday, the Dickson Memorial Chapel Conservatory Garden is just putting on its autumn glory!
Here’s a before and after shot to highlight what a difference a few hands made last Saturday:
The Conservatory Garden before
…and after the love.
It truly is amazing how just a bit of weeding, pruning, and laying down some fresh mulch can really revitalize a garden. I wonder if Mrs. Dickson would be pleased to see how lovely her garden looks!
Dave and Denise lay down new mulch
Grant Wood had his “American Gothic” – we bring you “Dickson Gothic”
The Friends of Greenlawn would like to thank Denise and Dave for joining Christine last weekend and lending their hands to the tending of the garden that Mr. Dickson so lovingly created for his wife, Mrs. Dickson. Thank you to the fairy weeder who magically appeared in secret the day before mulch was laid. We also cannot forget to thank Sean McCrea and his team for supplying the mulch and for everything else they do for Greenlawn Cemetery.
Just a reminder that this Saturday, June 9th, FOG will be hosting it’s spring event. This event is a tour through Greenlawn Cemetery featuring Artists, Authors, and Poets. The Dickson Memorial Chapel will be open from 9:30AM-1:00PM for viewing, sales, and donations with the tour itself departing from the chapel at 10:00AM.
Items available for sale at the event can be previewed from our new FOG gear page here. There will also be some paintings and a print by Debra Freeman Highberger up for silent auction (pictured below).
Despite being situated in the middle of a busy urban area, Greenlawn Cemetery offers a peaceful respite for many species of flora and fauna that one would typically not see this close to downtown. Some of the more well-known inhabitants are of the feathered sort – the birds who make Greenlawn their home or their layover on a long flight home. To date, Greenlawn’s most dedicated birdwatchers have seen over 100 different species within the cemetery.
Bright and early on May 13, 2018, Charlie Lipson led a group of folks through Greenlawn on a guided bird walk. The skies were overcast but that did not deter the group from being able to catch over 25 different species of birds up and at ’em that morning. The usual visitors were present – a Black-Crowned Night Heron (our mascot), a Double-crested Cormorant, a few Mallards, and some Red-Winged Blackbirds to name a few. The group was also graced with a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird flyby!
Early risers enjoying those on flight
Dedicated watchers with their binoculars
Thanks to all who came out for the guided bird walk! It was a successful event and folks got to learn a lot about birds, trees, and shrubs.
Conservatory Garden Clean-up
About a week later on May 19, 2018, a group of folks took to sprucing up the Conservatory Garden next to the Dickson Memorial Chapel. Flowers were planted, mulch was laid, and weeds were pulled as volunteers helped to clean up the garden that lies where the old conservatory used to be. Mr. Dickson would be proud of the work these folks pulled off!
Polly, Denise, Michelle, Denise, and Richard (not pictured) did a great job!
Mulch, mulch, and more mulch!
A view of the finished product
Another angle on work well done!
Thanks again to Polly, Denise, Michelle, Denise, and Richard for all their hard work cleaning up the garden! Thanks also to the Sean and his Greenlawn Cemetery crew who keep the grounds looking good. Oh – and thanks to those who worked hard last year planting bulbs so that we could enjoy their colorful blooms this year!
As you might remember from our last post here, we hosted an event back on June 11th that featured a wonderful lecture by Ms. Meg Winslow, the Curator of Historical Collections for Mount Auburn Cemetery located in Cambridge, MA.
Ms. Winslow highlighted the efforts undertaken over the years to ensure the preservation of Mount Auburn as a rural cemetery landscape while also continuing to serve its most base purpose – as an active cemetery. Her lecture also emphasized similarities between Mount Auburn and our beloved Greenlawn Cemetery as well as many other connections between Mount Auburn and notables of Salem, MA.
It was also interesting to hear what has been accomplished at Mount Auburn and I know that it made a few of us starry-eyed at the possibilities in the future for Greenlawn Cemetery. Thank you so much Ms. Meg Winslow for the inspiration!
Restoration of the “Rose Window” on the Dickson Memorial Chapel
I promise that a run down of what we’ve been up to in our absence on this blog is coming soon. In the meantime, it seemed appropriate and timely to share one of our recent milestones as far as restoration work being down within Greenlawn Cemetery.
As part of the Phase 1 restoration work being performed on the Dickson Memorial Chapel, one of the beautiful stained glass windows known as the “rose window” was removed from the chapel some months ago in order to be repaired and restored. On June 16, 2017, Jonathan and David from Custom Stained Glass out of South Easton, MA reinstalled the rose window. These two gentlemen also were the ones who restored the stained glass and the window’s framework is now also painted in its original “Essex Green” paint!
(all photos below taken by Christine Lutts, one of our Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery co-chairs)
David and Jonathan from Custom Stained Glass
Look at that Essex Green trim! Such a rich color.
A view of the rose window from inside the chapel
The Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery would like to thank Jonathan and David for their care and expertise in restoring the rose window. We would also like to thank the many, many folks who have helped make it possible for this work to be carried out! Thank you all so much!
