Take its walking tour, visit its arboretum

Oak Lawn Cemetery is a meticulously and lovingly manicured park rich in natural beauty.

There is no better way to experience Oak Lawn’s grandeur than to take advantage of its walking tour and see its rare collection of trees, shrubs and plants. Nature lovers are in for a special treat.

You’ll see numerous trees that are indigenous to North America as well as many imported varieties. Oak Lawn Cemetery was named after a stately White Oak tree that stood near its entrance. Known as the “Cemetery oak”, it is a tree that Americans regarded as a symbol of immortality. Today there are many varieties of regal oak trees on the grounds-the Swamp white oak, Black oak, Red oak (also called Northern red oak or Champion oak) and Scarlet oak. You’ll see fine examples of the flowering dogwood, Sugar maple, Black tupelo, Eastern red cedar, and the classic American elm, to name a few. Special treats include the American sycamore, one of the largest hardwoods, reaching 130 feet high and 10 feet in diameter, and the European copper beech, easily recognizable with its stout wrinkled grey trunk resembling an elephant’s foot. The arboretum has other tree species including a collection of imported deciduous conifers such as the Dawn redwood, related to the Giant sequoia, and the Golden larch, ancient trees that are native to China; Sawara falsecypress, better known as Japanese cypress; Japanese stewartia and Persian ironweed. The collection also includes one of Connecticut’s most notable trees, the Austrian pine, one of the largest in Connecticut.

To celebrate this unique collection of trees from around the world, in 2014 Oak Lawn Cemetery was awarded Level 1 Accreditation as an Arboretum by the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program. This special honor recognizes Oak Lawn Cemetery as an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta. An arboretum is a special place whose mission is to collect trees, shrubs and woody plants for the benefit of the public, science and conservation. More than 100 trees have been identified and most have been labeled with identification signs.

Oak Lawn has the unique distinction of being the only cemetery in the state of Connecticut and only the second site of any type in Connecticut — along with Connecticut College — to be honored with this designation. Accreditation is awarded based on strict standards, which include meeting levels of achievement, labeling of species, tree science, planting, conservation, programming and public access.

Working closely with the Arbor Day Foundation, Oak Lawn Cemetery has launched a public educational program, including an annual tree planting tutorial event on Arbor Day. Additional educational programs include a semiannual bird walk and tree tour, under the guidance of the Connecticut Audubon society and Oak Lawn’s arborist. The cemetery’s specimen-identification program has expanded to include woody plants, and its gardens have been upgraded to include a honeybee apiary as part of a public-education program about the role of honeybees in the pollination of trees and plants.

Visiting the arboretum for the first time is a unique and unforgettable experience. It’s an opportunity to get an up-close, hands-on glimpse of nature’s vast, limitless creations that are not only breathtakingly beautiful, but also play a unique role in our ecosphere. Plans are being developed for an audio tour to include points of historical interest.

By Bob Weinstein and William E. Allen, MD