This week I took Declan to a local landmark. Oakwood Cemetery is a Historic Cemetery built in 1859. New York City landscaper Howard Daniels transformed this 160 acres of land that included hills, valleys with springs and sturdy oaks into what was considered the picturesque ideal of landscape designs of that time.


Mortuary Chapel was designed by J. L. Silsbee in 1879. It has gone unused for the past 40 years. It is one of the few surviving religious monuments designed by Silsbee. The chapel has a receiving vault where bodies were stored during winter months for spring burial.