Author and Oakland Volunteer Jihan Hurse will be giving an author talk at 3:45 p.m. during this year's Sunday in the Park on September 25! Oakland volunteer Jihan Hurse’s first published work, All is Well, is a touching selection of notes…
Every year during our Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Halloween tours, the number one question visitors ask Oakland's gardens team is, “What are all of these gorgeous colorful flowers blooming everywhere!? There are white ones and pink ones and red…
Neale Nickels, HOF’s senior director of capital projects is back with another update on the ongoing rehabilitation of Oakland Cemetery’s iconic 1899 Bell Tower building. Since our last update in July, the elevator has been installed, framing for the public…
Why do some headstones at Oakland look more weathered than others? Why are some crisp and as easy to read as the day they were carved while others appear to have melted? The primary reason for this has to do…
I love stories. I can spend hours reading blurbs on the back of books or watching movie trailers because I love the feeling of something capturing and enticing me. Telling history is, in essence, storytelling. There is a plot, there…
Alfred Salom Eichberg was a prominent Victorian-era architect and one of the first Jewish architects to practice his trade in the Southeast. At historic Oakland Cemetery, he’s also known as the only person who has a copyrighted tombstone. Alfred was…
In July 1974, a ten-year-old boy playing putt-putt golf near Annapolis, Maryland, observed a former vice-president swinging away at the adjacent driving range. The young boy asked Spiro Agnew for his autograph. As he signed the back of my scorecard, Mr. Agnew…
Born in Virginia in 1836, Gustavus Roy grew up planning to practice medicine like his father. He graduated from the prestigious Richmond College and the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. When the Civil War began in 1861, Dr. Roy joined…
It’s hard to believe but we’ve reached the halfway point in the rehabilitation of the Oakland Bell Tower thanks to our excellent team including J.M. Wilkerson Construction and Smith Dalia Architects. Things are starting to take shape! The most notable…
We are often asked about the exotic-looking plants included in several of the plantings at Oakland. Are they hardy? Are they appropriate for a historic garden? The answers are yes and yes. In fact, bananas are one of the few…