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Images of America: Ohio
Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery
Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery reveals the profound effects the cemetery and the City of Cleveland had on one another. Founded in 1869, this garden cemetery served as an escape and a model for Cleveland parks and suburbs, such as University Circle, Little Italy, East Cleveland, and Cleveland Heights. Lake View is home to cultural, economic, and political leaders and thousands of others from all classes, races, and religions. This rich diversity is manifested in the natural and man-made landscape, which features the President James Garfield Monument, the Wade Chapel, and the John D. Rockefeller obelisk.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 18, 2004
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 12, 2025
Gorgeous photos and interesting history!
December 16, 2014
This is a terrific book about Cleveland, Ohio's, historic Lake View Cemetery. The book is typical of those issued by Arcadia Publishing: A local writer or historian writes the text, there are 180 to 240 black-and-white photographs with captions, and the book is limited to 128 pages.
In this case, Arcadia landed a real author: Marian Morton, a professor of history at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Morton specializes in the history of Cleveland, and this is her third book with Arcadia Press about Cleveland.
Dr. Morton's authorship has eliminated many of the historical inaccuracies and wild claims that sometimes come from other authors associated with Arcadia Publishing. Her text is crisp, easy to read, and contains a level of detail that is missing in books by self-trained historians, who lack the broader and deeper understanding of the social, economic, educational, historic, and other trends that come together to weave the tapestry of history.
One of the great advantages of Morton's book is that the images in it tend to be more recent. Thus, the reader gets a very strong sense of what the cemetery looks like today. This is a real aid to those who wish to use this text as a kind of guidebook to locating historic graves at Lake View.
The downside of this is that historic photographs tend not to be included. I'm not clear if this is because these early images simply don't exist, or if they were excluded. Morton's choice has been, instead, to include images of historic homes and the famous people in place of these historic cemetery photos. It's nice to see an image of the Van Swearingen home, and the Van Swearingen family. But I would rather have seen more images of early Lake View.
I wish Arcadia Publishing would have allowed this to be a bigger book. This is a book whose physical dimensions ae 9.25 x 6.5. I wish it had been a larger, 11 x 8.5 book. This would have permitted for larger images -- a real plus in an image-heavy text like this.
Overall, I think Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery is a terrific work that's accurage, comprehensive, and a joy to read and use.
In this case, Arcadia landed a real author: Marian Morton, a professor of history at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Morton specializes in the history of Cleveland, and this is her third book with Arcadia Press about Cleveland.
Dr. Morton's authorship has eliminated many of the historical inaccuracies and wild claims that sometimes come from other authors associated with Arcadia Publishing. Her text is crisp, easy to read, and contains a level of detail that is missing in books by self-trained historians, who lack the broader and deeper understanding of the social, economic, educational, historic, and other trends that come together to weave the tapestry of history.
One of the great advantages of Morton's book is that the images in it tend to be more recent. Thus, the reader gets a very strong sense of what the cemetery looks like today. This is a real aid to those who wish to use this text as a kind of guidebook to locating historic graves at Lake View.
The downside of this is that historic photographs tend not to be included. I'm not clear if this is because these early images simply don't exist, or if they were excluded. Morton's choice has been, instead, to include images of historic homes and the famous people in place of these historic cemetery photos. It's nice to see an image of the Van Swearingen home, and the Van Swearingen family. But I would rather have seen more images of early Lake View.
I wish Arcadia Publishing would have allowed this to be a bigger book. This is a book whose physical dimensions ae 9.25 x 6.5. I wish it had been a larger, 11 x 8.5 book. This would have permitted for larger images -- a real plus in an image-heavy text like this.
Overall, I think Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery is a terrific work that's accurage, comprehensive, and a joy to read and use.
November 24, 2011
Morton's book does a great job of introducing an unfamiliar visitor to the cemetery. She introduces the important permanent residents with an appropriate amount of information, then focuses on the lovely and unusual statuary in the cemetery's permanent collection. She includes Cleveland-area history, illustrated with just the right number of vintage photographs. She discusses the varieties of nationalities-of-birth represented in Lake View.
My chief issue with this cemetery guide is the cover photo, which -- while hinting at the diversity of monuments within Lake View Cemetery -- gives no indication how beautiful the place is. Even in mid-November, with most of the leaves already drifted to the grass, Lake View is a gem of garden cemetery design.
I found this book in the shop at the Cleveland Clinic, which turns out to be just down the road from Lake View Cemetery. Morton's guidebook encouraged me to visit Lake View for myself. I am so glad I did. The restful beauty was exactly the respite I needed from my hospital vigil.
My chief issue with this cemetery guide is the cover photo, which -- while hinting at the diversity of monuments within Lake View Cemetery -- gives no indication how beautiful the place is. Even in mid-November, with most of the leaves already drifted to the grass, Lake View is a gem of garden cemetery design.
I found this book in the shop at the Cleveland Clinic, which turns out to be just down the road from Lake View Cemetery. Morton's guidebook encouraged me to visit Lake View for myself. I am so glad I did. The restful beauty was exactly the respite I needed from my hospital vigil.
November 23, 2016
More of a 2.5,solid history of the historic Lake View Cemetery but dry and dated when it comes to the more modern photographs. Did lead me to look up a few words describing cemetery settings and art.
Didn't make Daffodil Days 2015, still hoping to get there to check out the historic places soon. This gives me a few things to search for in the cemetery.
Didn't make Daffodil Days 2015, still hoping to get there to check out the historic places soon. This gives me a few things to search for in the cemetery.
May 5, 2014
Another fascinating read -- loved discovering more about the history of this interesting city and would love to take a tour of this cemetery, soon!
September 1, 2011
A fascinating book about Cleveland's most interesting cemetery where many famous Clevelanders are buried including John D Rockefeller and Former President James A Garfield.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews