The 200-acre Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum in Dayton is one of the nation’s oldest “garden” cemeteries. Founded in 1840 by John Van Cleve (the Van Cleve family is one of Dayton’s “founding families”), this spacious, rolling area is the final resting place of many notable Daytonians including aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, novelist and poet Paul L. Dunbar, columnist Erma Bombeck, inventor Charles Kettering, and John Patterson, the founder of National Cash Register.
Words don’t do this historic landmark justice. So here are some pics:
Woodland Cemetary, located at 118 Woodland Avenue, Dayton, Ohio.
The Liberty Bell -- in Dayton?
Woodland has over 100,000 monuments.
James Ritty, inventor of the cash register, which he sold to John Patterson for $6,500.
Historic tours can be scheduled for visitors. Be prepared to walk uphill!
Living the good life...even in death.
I know Stroop Rd is in Kettering, but who was Stroop?
More striking memorials.
The Wright family plot.
Headstones of Orville, Wilbur and Katharine Wright.
The grave of Johnny Morehouse, a five-year-old boy who fell in the waters of the Miami & Erie Canal. Morehouse's dog jumped in the water, attempting to save him, but was too late.
Visitors to the Morehouse site leave toys and dolls.
Many of the trees at Woodland are more than 100 years old.
A beautiful angel.
A majestic monument watches over the resting souls.
The roads are suitable for walking or cycling
Grave site of Paul Laurence Dunbar. The tiny headstone is that of his sister Elizabeth, who died at age 2.
A 29,000 pound boulder marks the grave site of Erma Bombeck.
The annual Dayton Air Show took off in 1975, but air shows and flying exhibitions in Dayton go back 100 years to the Wright Company’s exhibition team, which trained at Huffman Prairie and made its flying debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June 1910.
Mr. Gaffney is a former Dayton Daily News aviation writer, publisher of AviationDayton.com, and author of Dayton Air Show: A Photographic Celebration, which features photos by Dayton Daily News photographer Ty Greenlees.