UNION CEMETERY: A SITE POTRAIT
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The Union Cemetery is a burial
site for dead people. They offer personal burial services for the central Ohio region. They currently have two sites- one just west of the Olentangy River, and another on the west side of Olentangy River Road, north of first location. The site shown above is the first location that Union Cemetery was established on and has served this purpose for over 200 years. It started as a 75 acre site and has now expanded to over 125 acres. The Cemetery is open every day from 8 am till 6pm but only holds interment services 8am to 4pm on weekdays, and from 8 am till noon on Saturdays. I have
visited this site a couple of times and I like to call it “The Dead Playground” because compared to its context, it is very different in terms of the lack of activity and the fact that it does house dead people. The site is made up mostly of grass except for the pathways and drives that connect the different sections of the cemetery. There is a wide variety of vegetative types on the site, including huge coniferous trees, wide range of deciduous trees as well as shrubs and flowers planted near headstones. The site is not scruffy but it isn’t polished eitherit’s about midway between both. The site is very well maintained, but the patchy condition of
the grass almost counters the maintenance. The Olentangy River running along a part of the site as well as the location of a major road and a wetland park around the site make it distinct. I think this site is special because it has the qualities of a what would be a great leisure park- its proximity to a neighborhood, variety of conditions and species around and within the site, and the vegetation that provides shade for people to enjoy the site.
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Historic Images There used to be an amusement park on the east side of the Olentangy river, adjacent to the cemetery. The amusement park used to be the largest amusement park in the United States during the early twentieth century.
historic Image
The cemetery started within the red -dashed line boundary and over time, grew to cover the land it sits on today.
Historic comparison) H istoric IImage(nowm
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Context Map Olentangy River
yR tang Olen iver
Road
Hand drawn context map
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oad
The site is accessed through two main entry gates along the Olentangy River Road. On the North side sits a shopping center with a grocery store and various restaurants. Right
behind the strip of retail stores sits University Village which serves as home to a lot of OSU students. The Olentangy River runs right along a part of the North-West
border of the cemetery. Behind the row of trees on the east border of the cemetery lies the Olentangy bike trail and the Wetlands research park.
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Sectioning
Vegetative Variety
Parallel Layout
The cemetery site is divided various sections each labelled accordingly to allow ease of placement of pathways and drives. It also makes it easier to find headstones.
The site is made up of a variety of vegetation types and sizes. Most of the trees on the site are deciduous, but there are also some coniferous trees.
The headstones line up almost perfectly along parallel but invisible lines that run from the North side of the site to the South side.
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Watercourse
Steep Slopes
Abandonment
Program Adjacencies
Thicket
Low Head Dam
Divides
There isn’t a noticeably great change in the elevation of the site, but the land slopes gently towards the Olentangy River which runs along the site on the part of its North border.
Although the cemetery site is gently sloped, there is a steep drop in the elevation right on the banks of the river.
There is a sense of abandonment on the site. Rusted pipes sticking out the ground, an abandoned parking lot on the north boundary and and abandoned tap.
The cemetery is surrounded by places that thrive on human activity, but only has clear boundaries on its south and east sides.
The site is surrounded by a thicket of trees
One of the low head dams in the Olentangy river is located within visible distance of the site.
This thicket separates the site from the bike path and the wetlands.
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Expansion of Union Cemetery The first phase of development 1st new addition 1912 addition 1914 addition 1917 addition
Density of Headstones Filled plots Semi-filled plots About a quarter filled plots
Type of Headstones Elaborate, tall headstones Average mid-sized headstones Flat headstones
Size (Age) of Trees >Seventy feet Fifty feet Thirty feet < Ten feet Teni Lawal • Workshop Portfolio • LArch 3430• 8
map with section cuts
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