Cemetery Park

Cemetery Park, Main Street, Ventura

A family plot

I discovered Cemetery Park shortly after I moved to Ventura 15 years ago. It's about a mile from the Mission between there and Ventura High. I was walking my dog when I came across the large, open space. There were no signs at the time, save "1936" on a stone retaining wall that faced Main street. It was maintained, though, and not fenced, so I figured it was a public space. I noticed fairly quickly that it didn't share the other qualities that parks in the city had, no playground nor restrooms, no tables nor benches, nor anything else that a park normally had. The one thing that was apparent was that it was a dog walker's paradise. It seemed to be the place that everyone brought their dogs, though it's not officially a dog park.

Walking through the center of the park, I noticed small, concrete and bronze markers with names and dates. They were all uniform in size, and seemed a bit random in their placement, though occasionally there would be a series of family names grouped in a way that would imply some sort of burial plot. At the time, there was nothing to mark it, but I figured out that this green space was at one point the town cemetery! And like the old movie, Poltergeist, most likely all of the bodies were still there! And now, it was a dog park! And, of course, all the dogs would become possessed and go home and eat their masters!

I did think that last one, briefly in passing, but figured that probably wasn't going to happen.

The mission was founded in the 1790's and the high school dates from roughly 1889, so as the town expanded, it enveloped this site. What I didn't understand was why the site didn't seem to have age appropriate headstones. I was thinking that this park might make an interesting article for some magazine or other (I was feeling pretty confident at the time with my one published LA Times article) and so I called Richard Senate, the Ventura historian, who gave me a bit of the history of the park.

Mr. Senate gave me information, I found some more on the internet, and the rest I can kind of piece together from being a history major. From what I can gather, when the mission grounds could no longer hold the dead (The mission eventually built a school on it's original graveyard-a discussion for another time), new land was selected on Main Street on the crest of the hill and outside of what was then city limits. The first burial in the newly named St. Mary's Cemetery happened in about 1862, and the graveyard had specific areas for Protestants and Jews, and though the current signage doesn't mention it, the space most likely had a section specific to the Chinese, (One of the new commemoration signs does mention a Chinese pioneer), and other ethnic groups.

Facing Main Street

According to several things that I came across, the space was full with at least 3000 residents, and the last burial was done sometime in the 1940's. Around that time the city was given some of the land and purchased the rest for some sort of recreation center. Apparently that didn't pan out, and though the parking lot from that project remains, the building does not.

Improvements Coming!

Veteran's Memorial on the way

It's hard to say how important the invention of the weed-whacker is, but that seems to be the reason that the park fell into disrepair. Looking at the pictures on the Restore St. Mary's Cemetery website, the cemetery had fancy grave markers that would have been labor intensive to maintain without a weed-whacker, and it seems as though sometime in the 60's the city decided to simply move the tombstones. In spite of having many of the city founders interned in the cemetery, and them having family that still lived (and lives) in the area, the city was able to convert the space with minimal fuss. They simply moved the headstones, dumping some in nearby canyons, grinding others and using them for fill at Olivas Golf Course levees, and the rest turning up in odd places all over the city. A few of the remains were moved but most stayed right where they had been laid to rest.

The historian in me finds graveyards fascinating, and I have often stopped and poked around them on various trips through various cities and countries. I find looking at tombstones peaceful, and wonder about the people resting there. And though I can't say that I'm an expert in such matters, I don't think I've ever heard of a graveyard being turned into a park by simply moving the tombstones. But that apparently was the case here.

Personally, I'm okay with the space being turned into a park, but I'm happy that some acknowledgement of the history of the cemetery is now being made. The space is being relandscaped, removing some rather ugly hedges and adding historical signs that talk about the important people that still rest here. A Veteran's memorial is being created, and the city is taking pains to spruce up the area. Cemetery Park has some of the best views in the city, and I'm sure that the dead don't mind the company.

As long as you remember to pick up after your dog.