Green Hill Cemetery is located on 51 acres on Wharton Street in downtown Greensboro. It opened opened in 1877, making it the oldest of our city cemeteries. The diversity of flora in the cemetery is impressive; so much so that a local botanist has made a spreadsheet of its hundreds of different trees and plants (here). Between the planting, the irregular spacing of the monuments, and the stone and cement borders marking family plots, upkeep of Green Hill is a daunting task. However, thanks to the volunteer organization, Friends of Green Hill Cemetery, the space is looking more beautiful than ever.
As the above photo hints, Green Hill Cemetery is filled with obelisks. The one above is unique in its ribbed texture. This obelisk is one of the highest in the cemetery; it is part of the plot where members of the Gray family are buried, just down from Julian Price's final resting place. From the small to the tall, we estimate a dozen obelisks in the cemetery. They seem like feats of geometry, with some bases appearing too small to support the height. Somehow, they are still erect.
Today is ABC Wednesday and for our A-Z Urban Finds Series, "O" is for obelisk.
ohh my 51 acres??? Thats very large!
i love cemeteries though... sommehow they always give me a sense of peace and quietness...
The obelisk is beautiful!
Have a nice abc-wednesday-day / – week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)
Posted by: Melody Steenkamp | Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 07:58 AM
'Tis indeed a beautiful place and I'm glad to hear that volunteers are working to keep it up. Cemeteries are like golf courses - expensive and labor intensive. Now I don't know if this is true or not, but I hear this cemetery is so popular people are just dying to get in!
Posted by: Jacob | Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 10:02 AM
I've never seen an obelisk like that before.
Posted by: William Kendall | Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 11:57 AM
That's huge!
Posted by: cieldequimper | Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 01:49 PM
They are beautiful. I love old cemeteries like this. We have several here and you have reminded me that I haven't photographed them in awhile. It's nice to have volunteers to keep it nice!
Posted by: Lois | Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 07:27 PM
I've never seen a ribbed obelisk!
ROG, ABCW
Posted by: Roger Green | Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 09:16 PM