Manning apparently agreed to remain with Arlington and then opened her own brothel for a little extra income. This later enraged the constable, who ordered Manning to cease and desist, or he would return her to her family. Manning shot Arlington in the head, killing him, and then shot herself. Both are now interned in Old City “where true love really does live on in eternity,” Whitehead tells the group. People laugh but watch ever so closely over their shoulders as they continue their midnight stroll through Old City Cemetery. The Sacramento Historic City Cemetery is what most docents would consider a “living” cemetery, complete with a grand history, a social status hierarchy and even reports of the walking dead. There are approximately 44 acres of land dedicated to this territory, according to Judy Eitzen of the Old City Cemetery Committee, though other sources say that the real estate is between 28 and 36 acres. Three cemeteries occupy the space—the Old City Cemetery, the Masons and Odd Fellows cemeteries. According to Sacramento Historic City Cemetery’s master plan documents, the graveyards’ history begins in 1849 when Captain John Sutter Jr. persuaded his father to donate 10 acres of land to create a city cemetery. This donation to the city of Sacramento was called the City Ordinance of December 1849. The private cemetery established near Sutter’s Fort at that time had a tendency to flood, being located too close to the American River. Old City was a remedy to this dilemma since the land Sutter chose to donate was one of the higher elevations in Sacramento.
Years later this property became a final resting place for over 25,000 people. Some say that more than 36,000 people reside there. This dispute exists because of an estimated 800 to 1,000 bodies needing to be “put to rest” quickly when the Asiatic cholera epidemic hit Sacramento in 1850. Besides being designed as a garden cemetery, Old City cemetery, for better or worse, carries a defined social status within its Victorian gates. A city’s story is told in its cemeteries; they are where the past meets the present. Cemeteries planned by cities promote respect for the city’s history and convey important statements about who was who in Sacramento. The great monuments, above-ground crypts and more ornate markers create a mark of social distinction between emerging middle class sections of the cemetery and the ultra-wealthy, according to Jane Eva Baxter, department of anthropology at DePaul University. This is recognizable throughout the great city cemeteries nationally and internationally.
The Sacramento Historic City Cemetery is what most docents would consider a “living” cemetery, complete with a grand history, a social status hierarchy and even reports of the walking dead.
Determined to distance themselves from the working class and to present to the public its social status, the more wealthy patrons of Old City Cemetery erected giant monuments with statuary or above ground mausoleums to intern their dearly departed. Graves were seen as a public extension of the family’s property, and cemeteries such as Old City provided a secure, well-maintained, costly place for families to establish permanent monuments to themselves — an immortality of sorts. The Old City Cemetery historic landmark committee considers Old City the finest of the Sacramento cemeteries for its landscaping and unusual funerary architecture. It includes an area of family vaults based around a cedar of Lebanon tree, as well as a Civil War section of monuments dedicated to Californians who fought in that war. Historical information plaques are located throughout the cemetery to enlighten visitors about the history of this unique cemetery. Those who visit today are also informed by massive monuments and markers carved in ornate script and elevated above modest name markers that a prominent person is entombed there.
Sacramento’s Historic City Cemetary at dusk.
On a darker note, Old City Cemetery projects a haunted atmosphere inside its gates.
Actresses re-enact the tale of May Woolsey for the Lantern Tour, a yearly event showcasing historic Sacramento’s most unusual deaths.
According to the cemetery’s master plan and historic record documenting the construction of the mausoleums, one such crypt for a ’49er railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins cost more than $80,000 to build. This ornate tomb is made out of red rock granite imported from Colorado and weighs over 350 tons. Hopkins’ tomb is located in the pioneer section dedicated to the patrons of the Gold Rush in Sacramento. On a darker note, Old City Cemetery projects a haunted atmosphere inside its gates. It is so famous for its sightings that the cemetery’s ghostly history
was written about in “Haunted Places” by Dennis Hawk. A few times a year a psychic paranormal investigations group gives private tours of the cemetery. This group claims that it has discovered spirits and retells their stories. The group is known as the Paranormal Connections group, and its founder, Christina George, is a local medium. One of their favorite stories to tell unsuspecting visitors, according to George, is the tale of May Woolsey, a young girl who lived in Sacramento with her parents, Mary and Luther Woolsey. According to records in the Sacramento archives of 1879, at age 13 May contracted measles and encephalitis, became very ill and died. A century later the family’s home was being remodeled by its newest owner. Under the second floor landing of a staircase, the owner found a closet with a false ceiling. Inside that ceiling was a very old trunk filled with the belongings of May Woolsey, a type of time capsule of her era.
Guides at Old City Cemetery wait to lead a new group for the Lantern Tour.
George says that one of the most interesting items, in May Woolsey’s trunk was a letter she had written to her mother: “Dear Momma, I am so happy as I did write to you and say I was happy. Now Momma dear, do not weep for me. I am not dead, no, only gone before to wait your coming when you will be out of all sorrow and care and will be happy with me. Oh, what pleasure there is in the spirit life no one can tell. Only think of everlasting life and pleasure where we know no sorrow; all is sunshine, there is no cloud to darken our path as on earth; we have our choice of mission.” The letter ends there, yet, according to the Paranormal Connections group, May has been seen by many visitors wandering around Old City Cemetery. Two Sacramento rosarians had an idea — to transform a neglected section of Sacramento’s historic cemetery into a haven for antique roses. Botanist Fred Boutin was the co-founder of the cemetery’s rose project. When Boutin and Jean Travis, his rose garden partner, began their cemetery transformation quest in 1992, most parts of the cemetery had been abandoned. Many plots had masonry that had been destroyed or was falling apart. When Boutin saw the size and number of barren plots in Old City, he decided that it would be a wonderful place to start a rose garden. To establish the rose garden, Boutin and Travis collaborated with the city of Sacramento and drew on their associations with friends and other plant lovers for donations of seedlings, saplings and funds. “We had to negotiate for many months with the city both where the rose garden would be grown as well as the rules governing the roses and the ownership and responsibility over the garden,” says Boutin. Oliva, an experienced home gardener with a specialty in roses and a new addition to the rose team, worked with Boutin and became the curator of the garden a few years later. “The process to repair, build and replace the old plant structure and development of the new garden took several years,” reports Oliva. I’ve collected volunteers, taught rose horticulture and was there to oversee the people who helped with the overall planting and careare of the entire garden.” Oliva knew that a rose garden of this size would require many people to help with its production and maintenance. As a former educator, Oliva began to give free classes on pruning, propagating and general care for the roses. Her plan was to enlist as many people from her classes as she could convince to help her. This idea worked since many of her volunteers came from her classes. Fall 2016
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ETERNAL LIFE IN MARBLE
All sorts of statuary can be found throughout Old City Cemetery, each one having a special meaning. The most common symbols of death were:
Urns
Classical symbol of Roman cremation. Romans used to take cremated remains, place them in an urn and cover them with a shroud.
Wreaths
Circular symbols of eternal life (with no beginning and no end) and made of evergreens that, in theory, never turn brown, so never die.
Broken columns Classical symbol of life cut short.
Upside-down torches
The inverted torch symbolizes death; the burning flame (normally extinguished when the torch is turned upside-down) symbolizes the flame of eternal life and the Christian belief in resurrection.
Grieving women
Classical symbol of a woman dressed in loose Roman robes, physically exhausted from weeping, and leaning on her hand, sometimes on an urn or a cross.
Obelisks
Egyptian symbol of eternal life.
“I always said, ‘Someday I’ll volunteer,’” laughs Anita Clevenger, the current curator of the Old City Cemetery Rose Garden. “It all began when Oliva offered a pruning class at the cemetery. I was a home gardener at the time and had been trying to grow roses in my yard.” Clevenger was so impressed with Oliva’s rose knowledge, but was also concerned about the deteriorated state in Old City, that she decided to volunteer. As she worked, learned and made new friends, Clevenger took on increasing responsibility over the care and development of the garden and later over the volunteers themselves. In 14 years Clevenger went from helping with the pruning season to becoming the manager of the garden and the volunteers. Clevenger has learned so much over the years that she is now known as a rose historian and a master gardener. She not only has great gardening and propagating knowledge of the roses but also knows the history of where the roses came from and the stories behind their acquisitions and names. Her knowledge and experience has grown hand in gardening glove with her dedication and love for the garden and the cemetery itself. She will be the first to say that the historic rose garden is a community effort. No one gets paid to do the work or take on the responsibility of the garden. The people who work on the roses are local volunteers. Occasionally volunteers are assigned by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s work release program. That was Eric Dadmehr’s experience. “I was arrested for walking my dogs without a leash over at Paradise Beach one afternoon,” Dadmehr scoffs. He received community service and was assigned volunteer hours at the Old City Cemetery. “I met Anita then,” he says. “She is really a delightful character, always smiling and pleasant.” Dadmehr fondly remembers his gentle rose pruning lessons from Clevenger. “The people are very nice and friendly. Everybody is very helpful,” he says. “You really meet a lot of wonderful people working out there, people that want to help out in their community.”
Dadmehr, a former Sacramento City College student, says he feels a deep connection with the cemetery’s rose project and wanted to help implement horticultural classes at the college. But the greenhouse and horticultural program that grows saplings for Old City are currently located at Consumes River College. Clevenger’s team works together with the staff at CRC to propagate and care for baby roses and cultivate new varietals. Over the years Clevenger has learned some special techniques to tempt helpers. “Something that I’ve learned with volunteers is, if you feed them they will come,” laughs Clevenger. “Food and good times together create camaraderie, and that’s a key part to this experience and what we do.” Despite the challenges of building a volunteer work force and structural problems, over the years Clevenger and the staff have brought the rose garden to international levels of recognition and have won two prestigious awards for the roses and the garden itself.
I always said. ‘Someday I’ll volunteer,’ laughs Anita Clevenger, the current curator of the Old City Cemetery Rose Garden.
Clevenger traveled to France in 2015 to accept the World Federation Rose Society Gold excellence award and to New York in 2009 to receive the Garden Hall of Fame award from the great rosarians of the world. The three-acre historic Rose Garden now has more than 500 species of heritage roses in its collection, and approximately 350 of them are unique varieties. The inspiration came from Boutin’s idea that rose species brought by pioneers should be collected from historic Gold Rush sites throughout California. Because of Boutin’s vision and accomplishments, some of the roses in Old City Cemetery cannot be found anywhere else in the word. “It’s been very rewarding to meet people from around the world who love our garden and recognize its significance in preserving historic roses, educating people about them and beautifying the cemetery,” Clevenger says. “Managing and curating the garden is a lot of work, but it is everybody’s efforts that make the garden so special. It is a privilege to be part of it.”
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