Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Upcoming Event: Historic Walking Tour of the Santa Barbara Cemetery

Resignation by Ettore Cadorin (Petry)
I received the following announcement yesterday from David Petry.

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Historic Walking Tour of the Santa Barbara Cemetery with Historian, David Petry, author of The Best Last Place: a History of the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Sunday, May 30, 2010, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Rain or Shine!)
Meet at the Cemetery Chapel, 901 Channel Drive.
$25 per person. Pay at the door.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Mr. Petry's excellent history of the cemetery, The Best Last Place: A History of the Santa Barbara Cemetery, the book is discounted to $15 (retail $30). Payment in cash or personal check is accepted.

Issac Sparks marker, 1867. His initial
burial in a broken-down Westside
cemetery is the reason the Santa Barbara
Cemetery exists today. (Petry)
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.

But more importantly, the Santa Barbara Cemetery has transcended five separate incarnations: as a dusty and geometric town cemetery, as a rudely conceived rural cemetery, as a fitful lawn park cemetery, as an over-achieving memorial park, and as a local columbarium. The Santa Barbara Cemetery has embraced each of these phases and has built upon them, becoming in the end, a modern cemetery that is better than any of the models it followed.

The tour provides a brief history of the cemetery and a 1-mile walking tour to the most interesting gravesites and sections of the cemetery. See the burial sites of town leaders Charles Fernald and Thomas More Storke, actors Ronald Colman, Laurence Harvey, and his daughter Domino, murderer Cyrus Barnard, gold magnate Augustus Sahlberg, business founders Jheri Redding, Sam Battistone, David Nancarrow, and George Oscar Mayer. Among many others.

Get a $10 discount on the tour if you sign up for The Best Last Place group on Facebook!

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Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Mr. Petry's book or business in any way. I do have the book, and I think it is excellent.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tuesday's Child: Tobias & Willie JAMISON


Our darlings

TOBIAS DILLAN
Died
June 16, 1883
Aged
6 y'rs, 11 mos, 16 days

WILLIE LOUISA
Died
June 4, 1883
Aged
4 y'rs, 1 mo, 8 days

Children of
T.B. & M.E. Jamison

"Suffer little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not, for of such is
the Kingdom of Heaven."

Tobias and Willie JAMISON are buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Ballard, Santa Barbara County, California. Their parents are also buried in this cemetery.

Headstone of Tobias and Willie Jamison photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal, April 2, 2009, Oak Hill Cemetery, Ballard, Santa Barbara County, California.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Beautiful and Unusual Headstone of Jim STULL

The Oak Hill Cemetery in Ballard, California, is a place where a person can express his/her individuality, even in death. There are many beautiful, interesting, and downright unusual tombstones to be found here.

With the success of the movie Sideways, California's Central Coast became known for its excellent wines - particularly of the Pinot Noir variety. Northern Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County are popular wine-tasting destinations for tourists from all over.

The unique headstone of Jim (and Rachel) Stull.
Detail of Jim's information.
STULL

Jim

2-21-1940
~
12-2-2004

(His wife Rachel is, presumably, still alive.)

I do not know if Mr. Stull was involved in the wine-making business, of if he just liked grapes. However, this unique tombstone is one that is not soon forgotten.

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This post was composed for the June 2010 Edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival: The Interesting, The Odd, The Beautiful.

Headstone of Jim Stull and detail photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal on April 2, 2009, Oak Hill Cemetery, Ballard, Santa Barbara Co., California.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal

Monday, May 10, 2010

Alexander Leslie Ellis


In Memory of
Alexander
Leslie Ellis

Fourth son of
Robert Francis Ellis
of Macherymore
Wicklow, Ireland
Born Nov 6, 1856    Died Oct 17, 1914
at Santa Barbara

The Gift of God is
Eternal Life

Alexander Leslie ELLIS is buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., California, Ocean View section, Grave 1222.

"Headstone of Alexander Leslie Ellis." Digital image. Photographed by Elizabeth O'Neal, July 19, 2008, Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., California.

Copyright © by Elizabeth O'Neal