Side A: Shortly after Oberlin Colony was established in 1833, a two-acre burying ground was set aside south of Plum Creek in the area bounded by Main, Morgan, and Professor streets. By 1861, however, with the town and Oberlin College growing and the Civil War escalating, the need for a larger cemetery became clear. After an extensive search, 27.5 acres of land belonging to Henry Safford were acquired one mile west of the center of Oberlin. H.B. Allen was hired to create a design in the style of the Rural Cemetery Movement, and in July 1864 Westwood Cemetery was formally dedicated. Burials in Westwood had actually begun in August 1863, and over the next few years hundreds of remains were reinterred from Oberlin’s “Old Cemetery” and from burying grounds in surrounding communities. In the mid-1860s the cemetery was enlarged to its present 47 acres, and in 2004 burials and memorials were estimated to number almost ten thousand. (Continued on other side)
Side B: (Continued from other side) Even though H.B. Allen’s design was not fully implemented, Westwood Cemetery reflects the basic goal of the Rural Cemetery Movement; that is, to provide a serene, parklike setting in which the living could enjoy a respite from daily pressures and become informed and inspired by memorials to the dead. The grave markers in Westwood bear testimony to Oberlin’s early and continued commitment to major national moral and social issues, chief among them abolition of slavery, higher education for all regardless of race or gender, defense of democracy, missionary activity, temperance, suffrage for all, and civil rights. Westwood’s first visitors came by horse and carriage, but today strollers and joggers, bird watchers and dog walkers, and genealogists and historians enjoy the peace and beauty of the cemetery. Westwood Cemetery is a City of Oberlin Historic Landmark and is part of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.
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