The Valentine’s popular evening tour of Hollywood Cemetery is back! Join them this Thursday from 6:00 – 7:30pm.
Category Archives: Hollywood Cemetery
Cannon Fire Saturday
There will be cannon fire at Hollywood Cemetery on Saturday around 3 pm as part of a ceremony.
Friends Of Hollywood Picnic This Sunday
From Hollywood Cemetery (don’t forget to RSVP!):
Join us for an annual tradition that dates back to the 1800s! We will be hosting our Fourth Annual Sunday Picnic at Hollywood Cemetery on Sunday, May 3rd from 1:00pm – 3:30pm. Pack a picnic basket, bring a blanket, and relax to sounds of great entertainment at Hollywood Cemetery. Guided trolley tours are available throughout the cemetery that day. Cupcakes from Pearl’s Cupcake Shoppe, an ice cream truck and hotdogs will be on site. Live music will be provided by the Oak Lane Band and Capitol Opera Richmond.
The picnic is free to attend, but we do ask that you RSVP in advance. Please email nshepherd@hollywoodcemetery.org or call 648-8501 to make reservations. Rain Date – Sunday, September 20th, 2015 at 1:00pm.
Say Happy Birthday To President James Monroe Today
From Hollywood Cemetery:
James Monroe’s birthday celebration is an annual event at Hollywood Cemetery. A grave-site presidential wreath laying is hosted by the James Monroe Memorial Foundation.
The event will begin at 11:00am (subject to any changes by the Army, which conducts the ceremony) and is open to the public.
Cannon Fire Tomorrow
Just received notice that there will be cannon fire associated with a ceremony in Hollywood Cemetery tomorrow (Saturday) between 1:00 PM and 1:30 pm.
Hollywood Cemetery Recognizes Its Volunteers Today
From Hollywood Cemetery’s FaceBook page:
We’d like to take a moment to thank our many volunteers today. You deserve more recognition than a single day can give. Thanks for all you do to preserve the beauty of Hollywood!
Birds Bring Economic Vitality to Cities, New Study Finds
Many Oregon Hill residents love having birds in the neighborhood and recognize how lucky we are that we get a lot bird traffic due to nearby James River Park and Hollywood Cemetery, which serve as havens for wildlife and important stops for bird migrations.
A new study published last month in the journal Urban Ecosystems tries to determine what economic value residents in two comparable cities place on having birds in their backyards and parks.
From an article on the study:
“This paper shows that our interactions with birds actually have a pretty high economic return to the community where you live,” said John Marzluff, a University of Washington professor of environmental and forest sciences and the paper’s co-author. “We know that having a livable, green community that attracts birds also increases the value of homes in that area. This paper shows there’s an economic service birds are providing.”
It’s something to consider as development pressures and increased riverfront activity come to bear. There is a lot at stake.
Alexander W. Weddell
Besides being the birth date of President Thomas Jefferson (1743), April 13th is also the birth date for diplomat Alexander W. Weddell (1876), who is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.
Hollywood Cemetery has a short bio on it’s website. Here’s a excerpt:
By 1923 the forty-seven-year-old, tall, courtly Virginian was convinced that he would probably remain a bachelor for the rest of his life. In February of that year, however, a meeting for afternoon tea in a fashionable Calcutta hotel with some old Virginia friends and a vivacious widow from St. Louis quickly led to courtship. Weddell arranged to take his leave and met Mrs. Steedman’s party in Rangoon, Burma. The romance continued on the trip back to the United States, and the couple married in St. Ambrose Chapel at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City four months after first meeting.
The couple returned to Calcutta late in 1923 where they remained until Weddell was transferred to Mexico City in 1924. Upon arrival in Mexico, the couple found a nation that was torn by revolution. Years of US intervention into Latin American affairs and resentment caused by the vast profits American corporations syphoned from their extensive Mexican holdings were fueling a strong “anti-Yankee” sentiment. Americans demanded restitution for the deaths of several US citizens during Poncho Villa’s border raids into Arizona and New Mexico. Weddell, who initially sympathized with Mexican interests, found coping with corruption and bureaucracy extremely vexing and discouraging.
In 1928, deeply concerned about his wife’s health, yearning to return to Virginia, and disappointed in his assignment by the Republican administration to Montreal, Weddell, a southern Democrat, resigned from the diplomatic corps. Weddell’s retirement came to an end, however, in 1933 when he finally achieved his dream of becoming an ambassador, being assigned by Franklin D. Roosevelt to the mission to Argentina. He and his wife spent “five interesting and happy years in that wonderful country,” after which Roosevelt offered Weddell the very difficult post of ambassador to Fransisco Franco’s Spain in 1939. By 1942, advancing age, health problems, and the cumulative frustration of working with an unresponsive State Department and observing Nazi influence in the Madrid government convinced Ambassador Weddell to retire permanently from foreign service.
By 1943 the couple had returned to Richmond where he was elected president of the Virginia Historical Society, and she resumed her gardening and continued her charity work.
Let There Be Flowers
The next astronomical spring begins tomorrow, though local weather calls for rain. Many neighbors are planning their gardens, and hopefully there is more interest in establishing some community plantings in tree wells, alleys, and lots, perhaps in preparation for the Richmond2015 UCI bicycle races.
Don’t forget Hollywood Cemetery’s Volunteer Rose Pruning And Maintenance Day on Saturday.
This spring you may also want to consider attending the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ new exhibit, “Van Gogh, Manet, and Matisse: The Art of the Flower”.
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Volunteer Rose Pruning And Maintenance Day
From Hollywood Cemetery’s FaceBook page:
Over 100 historic rose bushes have been identified in Hollywood Cemetery to date. We’ll be meeting on March 21st to care for the bushes and you’re invited to join us! No rose experience is required.