Lawn Cemetery

Developed by landscape gardener Adolph Strauch at Spring Grove Cemetery in Ohio, the “landscape-lawn plan” emphasized a bucolic landscape where plantings and monuments together created a unified composition. The focus was placed on the whole site rather than on any individual feature. Lawn cemeteries typically promote the erection of a single prominent monument with similar individual stones to indicate burial sites. Fencing and hedge barriers were discouraged, in order to provide continuity of the landscape. Families were encouraged to have a centerpiece memorial surrounded by matching footstones. The resulting clean lines and open spaces of the cemetery were easily maintained, lowering the price of the plots.