From the Richmond Dispatch, 7/1/1861, p. 2

Holywood [ Hollywood ] Cemetery. - Of late this pretty "city of the dead" has been more frequented by our citizens than we have previously known to be the case. They find it very pleasant to wander under the large shade trees which for years have done sentinel duty about the grounds. - When the scented breeze of the evening breathes upon them, and wakes their murmuring lutes - years that have passed seem to live again in the music; tones, long since hushed, echo once more on the heart; faces that have turned to dust, (whose marble mementoes greet our eyes at every turn,) glimmer like gleams of the upper world along the dusky boughs; eyes that years ago closed on earth to open in heaven, smile sweetly down upon us, and we lie down in the dark shadow upon the mossy roots and grass-coated earth, and are happy - happy in a sad, sweet, tender tranquility that purifies the soul, and while it makes us content with earth, fills us with love for heaven. - The establishment of the Cemetery and its opening to the public marked the pathway of our advancement as a city, though, like all improvements, it was at first vigorously and determinedly opposed. Now, everybody is in favor of it. It is a treasury filled with grand and holy memories - a little Eden, perfumed with flowers - the offerings of affection on the altar of memory, roofed by trees planted by nature and art; and glorious in it quiet loveliness. All, therefore, should seek more and more to make it what its founders intended it to be originally - an ornament to our city. Hollywood must, indeed, to all who have friends buried therein, be precious "while wood grows and water runs." It is better adapted for the use to which it has been devoted than any similar piece of ground we know anywhere. The murmuring waters of James river sound a perpetual requiem to the memory of the dead entombed above them.

• Prev
• Next