Upcoming Event: Santa Barbara Cemetery Walking Tour

David Petry, author of the book, The Best Last Place: A History of the Santa Barbara Cemetery, will host a walking tour of the Santa Barbara Cemetery this Halloween weekend:

Saturday, October 31, 2009
10 AM to 12:30 PM
901 Channel Drive, Santa Barbara
$15 per person
Meet at the Cemetery Chapel

The Santa Barbara Cemetery is unique among cemeteries. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the cemetery is home to actors, industrialists, authors, musicians, sports stars, and many of the town’s founders and leaders. It was, for the duration of the Reagan presidency, the chosen site for the Reagan’s burial plot. The Cemetery Chapel is the only sacred structure designed by famed architect George Washington Smith; inside are the only completed murals of Mexican muralist Alfredo Ramos Martinez. Where most cemeteries are corporate-, church-, or government-owned, the Santa Barbara Cemetery is owned and operated by a nonprofit board whose by-laws were originally drafted in 1867.

More information about this event is available here.

P.S. I have a copy of Mr. Petry's book, and it is excellent. The history of this cemetery is really quite fascinating!

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Upcoming Event: Picnic in the Cemetery

The Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society, in collaboration with the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Society, is sponsoring a Picnic in the Cemetery.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
10:30 AM - 12:00 NOON
Oak Hill Cemetery
2560 Baseline Avenue, Ballard
Cost: $25 for members of SBCGS and SYVHS; $32 non-members
Reservations and payment due by October 15.

Seven cemetery residents will delight you with their stories along with a little gossip about some of the other residents. Boy, did the Los Olivos and Ballard communities have some exciting and interesting characters.

A picnic lunch will be served at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Society Museum and Carriage House after the Cemetery visit.

Please contact the SBGCS for reservations and information.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Tuesday's Child: Emma Caroline Ufken

EMMA CAROLINE

Beloved dau. of

J.G & T E. UFKEN

Died

Feb. 24, 1893,

Aged

5 Y's, 4 M's, 2 D's

Emma Caroline UFKEN is buried in the Goleta Cemetery, Goleta, Santa Barbara Co., California, Section 1 East, Lot 25, Space 1 .

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

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Headstone of Emma Ufken." Digital image. Photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal, September 27, 2009.