Abstract
This thesis addresses the cultural landscape of Oakwood Cemetery, a private 82-acre rural cemetery in Syracuse, New York, designed by landscape architect Howard Daniels in 1859.
In 1859, a committee of Syracuse residents decide to locate a rural cemetery amid rolling hills and farms just south of the city proper. The cemetery is significant as an example of a rural cemetery, a burial place characterized by spacious landscaped grounds and romantic commemorative monuments established in a rural setting. Beginning with the development of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1831, rural cemeteries were the first American landscapes to treat nature as contained and manipulated settings that provided contrast to nearby cities. Oakwood is an intact example of this style. In 1991, the City of Syracuse designated Oakwood Cemetery a local protected site, and it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The thesis provides the site with long-term planning and management of the Oakwood Cemetery landscape. Treatment recommendations are based on the research and analysis of the cemetery landscape and the three prototype areas developed for the purposes of this thesis: the entry area, the inner core, and the five privately owned lots.
This report is available at SUNY ESF’s Moon Library – Thesis Call Number D384