“Trees are the best monuments that a man can erect to his own memory. They speak his praises without flattery, and they are blessing to children yet unborn.” That’s what the John Boyle, Fifth Earl of Cork and Orrery, said of trees in 1749.
Whenever I have the occasion to walk the grounds of historic cemeteries, the mature trees dotting their landscapes bespeak the work of the nation’s earliest horticulturists. The idea of a “rural” cemetery for Trenton was conceived by Jacob M. Taylor in 1857. He introduced his plan to a group of the city’s leading citizens— William M. Force, John K. Smith, Isaac Stephens, David Witherup and William S. Yard—who together founded Riverview Cemetery on January 16, 1858. It was was incorporated by an act of the state legislature of New …show more content…
Indeed, the Sunday-Times Advertiser of December 12, 1915, described his residence, then owned by Charles S. Van Syckel, and its many specimen trees, noting: “Due to his extensive knowledge in the care of trees, Stephens was given entire charge of the planting of all the trees in Riverview Cemetery, of which he was one of the founders.”
One of those trees, a stately American Elm, is found along Valley Avenue just south of the Receiving Vault. With a circumference of more than ten feet, the tree is estimated to be some 160 years old, and was a mere sapling when it was planted around 1860.
The American Elm, whose botanical name is Ulmus americana, is also known by its common name White Elm, and, less commonly, Water Elm, is native in the eastern and central United States, and southern Canada. Its leaves are three to five inches long and one to three inches wide with coarse, double serrated margins; its flowers are small, appearing in drooping clusters, and its seed pods are light green and flat. The tree can grow to 100 feet with a spread to 70
Whenever I have the occasion to walk the grounds of historic cemeteries, the mature trees dotting their landscapes bespeak the work of the nation’s earliest horticulturists. The idea of a “rural” cemetery for Trenton was conceived by Jacob M. Taylor in 1857. He introduced his plan to a group of the city’s leading citizens— William M. Force, John K. Smith, Isaac Stephens, David Witherup and William S. Yard—who together founded Riverview Cemetery on January 16, 1858. It was was incorporated by an act of the state legislature of New …show more content…
Indeed, the Sunday-Times Advertiser of December 12, 1915, described his residence, then owned by Charles S. Van Syckel, and its many specimen trees, noting: “Due to his extensive knowledge in the care of trees, Stephens was given entire charge of the planting of all the trees in Riverview Cemetery, of which he was one of the founders.”
One of those trees, a stately American Elm, is found along Valley Avenue just south of the Receiving Vault. With a circumference of more than ten feet, the tree is estimated to be some 160 years old, and was a mere sapling when it was planted around 1860.
The American Elm, whose botanical name is Ulmus americana, is also known by its common name White Elm, and, less commonly, Water Elm, is native in the eastern and central United States, and southern Canada. Its leaves are three to five inches long and one to three inches wide with coarse, double serrated margins; its flowers are small, appearing in drooping clusters, and its seed pods are light green and flat. The tree can grow to 100 feet with a spread to 70