CITY CEMETERY- WALKABOUT #3

For our third walkabout, we went to the City Cemetery to look at the urban ecologies and natural forms. The cemetery is located very close to campus, so students can easily walk or ride the public transportation. We decided to take public transportation, so we could become more familiar with it.

 

Group members from left to right: Lisa, Kaitie, Kristan, Alysa, and Hailey 

The City Cemetery covers a lot of ground. It is located on 11th Avenue, on the west by N street on the east by U Street and on the south by Forth Avenue. Below is a map of the cemetery.  

Photo courtesy of Google Maps.

The cemetery had a diverse amount of plants and animals.  Humans brought in all the plants. The plants consisted of trees, shrubs, grass, bushes, and flowers. While walking around, we saw squirrels running around and in trees and we heard many kinds of birds, but never saw them.

This picture shows the many types of plants in the cemetery. 

The cemetery’s abiotic environment was gradually slopping north. The cemetery had paved roads running through it for the visitors to drive on. The graves are placed in grass fields; the visitors have to weave between graves to see their loved ones, because there are no walkways for them.

This picture shows the gradual incline. 

During the walkabout, my groups stopped and listened to see what sounds the cemetery had. We all heard trees swishing in the wind, birds chirping, cars driving, construction, and a tractor digging a burial hole.

The group after listening activity. 

 This cemetery is very diverse. The cemetery is home to many different religions, which all have their own rules and customs. For example, the Mt. Calvary section allowed dogs on leashes, where as the rest of the cemetery did not allow dogs. Also, the Jewish area has a custom to leave rocks on top of the graves instead of flowers, because rocks are easily assessable, cheap, and last forever.

No dog sign posted throughout the cemetery

Jewish headstone with rocks on top.

The watershed for the cemetery is the City Creek watershed.

This walkabout was similar to our other walkabouts, because it is a public place. Our other walkabouts were more focused on recreation and socializing, where as the cemetery is place to morn the death of loved ones. The cemetery is very calm and peaceful, so the visitors have the ability to connect with their love ones.

This picture is an example of the calmness of the cemetery. 

While we were at the cemetery, we did not see any other visitors. We went on a cold Friday afternoon, so I bet this contributes to the lack of visitors. I assume the cemetery is busier on Memorial Day, weekends, or warmer days.  

 This cemetery was very interesting, because there were very diverse types of headstones. The cemetery doesn’t have any regulations on what the family and friends do on the gravesite, so many graves had trees planted in memorial for their loved ones. We found this very interesting, because you can see how long the person has been dead based on the size of the tree.

The cemetery is not a natural space, because everything is brought in. The headstones, grass, pavement, and plants are not natural occurring in this environment.

MORE GROUP PHOTOS AT THE CEMETERY