Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)

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The Mountain View Cemetery is a large cemetery in Oakland, California. It was established in 1863 by a group of East Bay Pioneers under the California Rural Cemetery Act of 1859. The association they formed still operates the cemetery today. Mountain View was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who also designed New York City's Central Park and much of Stanford University.

Many of California's important historical figures, drawn by Olmsted's reputation, are buried here and there are many grandiose crypts in tribute to the wealthy who are buried there, so many that one section is known as "Millionaires' Row." Because of this, and its beautiful setting, the cemetery is a tourist draw and docents lead bi-monthly tours.

Panoramic view from the rear of the cemetery, looking out across the San Francisco Bay

Millionaire's Row, Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland California

1 Design
2 Notable Burials
3 Trivia
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Design

Olmsted's intent was to create a space that would express a harmony between man and the natural setting. In the view of 19th century English and American romantics, park-like cemeteries, such as Mountain View, represented the peace of nature, to which man's soul returns. Olmsted, drawing upon the concepts of American Transcendentalism, integrated Parisian grand monuments and broad avenues.

Adjoining Mountain View Cemetery is St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery and the Chapel of the Chimes (cemetery, mausoleum and columbarium).

[edit] Notable Burials

Charles Crocker's Tomb, Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland California.

There are many notable people interred in Mountain View, many are local figures in California History, but others have achieved wider fame.^[1]

Edson Adams, laid out the city of Oakland
Washington Bartlett, Mayor of San Francisco 1882–1884, Governor of California 1887
Coles Bashford, Governor of Wisconsin and Arizona Territory politician
Alta Bates
Cloe Annette Buckel, one of the first female doctors in California
Anthony Chabot, father of hydraulic mining and benefactor of Chabot Space & Science Center
Moses Chase, believed to be the first American to settle in the East Bay area
Henry D. Cogswell, dentist and temperance movement crusader
Herbert A. Collins, landscape and portrait artist
David D. Colton, namesake of the city of Colton, California
Ina Coolbrith, California's first poet laureate
Charles Crocker, railroad magnate
General Henry Brevard Davidson of the Confederate States Army
Frederick Delger, German shoemaker and multimillionaire
Alexander Dunsmuir, builder of the Dunsmuir House
Rev. Henry Durant, first president of the University of California, Berkeley
Freda Ehrmann, mother of the California ripe olive industry
Joseph Stickney Emery, founder of Emeryville, California
J. A. Folger, founder of Folgers Coffee
Peter Folger, American coffee heir, socialite
Marcus Foster, first victim of the Symbionese Liberation Army
Domingo Ghirardelli, namesake of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
William M. Gwin, one of California's first Senators
Henry H. Haight (1825–1878), Governor of California 1867–1871
A.K.P. Harmon, lumber and shipping magnate
John Coffee Hays, Texas Ranger and first sheriff of San Francisco
Anna Head, founder of the Head-Royce School
David Hewes, who provided the "Golden Spike"
Andre Hicks (aka Mac Dre), Northern California Rapper
Thomas Hill, artist
Henry J. Kaiser, father of modern American shipbuilding
Ralph Wilson Kirkham, Union Army general
Joseph LeConte, co-founder of the Sierra Club
John Marsh, first American doctor in California, also helped spur transcontinental wagon travel
Bernard Maybeck, architect
Samuel Merritt, early Mayor of Oakland
C.O.G. Miller, head of Pacific Gas Lighting Corporation
Julia Morgan, architect
Frank Norris, author
John Lee Hooker, musician
Rossell O'Brien, American Civil War veteran who started the custom of standing and removing one's hat during the national anthem
Romualdo Pacheco, Governor of California 1875
George Pardee, Governor of California 1903–1907
George C. Perkins, Governor of California 1880–1883
Isaac Requa, made fortune in the Comstock Lode and railroads
Adolphus Frederic St. Sure, Federal Judge
Jane K. Sather, donor of Sather Gate and Sather Tower to the University of California, Berkeley
Francis K. Shattuck, prominent in the politics and early development of Alameda County, Oakland and Berkeley.
Joe Shoong, Chinese immigrant and founder of the National Dollar Stores chain
William T. Shorey, the only African-American whaling captain on the Pacific coast
Elizabeth Short, unsolved Hollywood murder victim known as the Black Dahlia
Francis Marion Smith, the "Borax King"
Josiah Stanford, older brother of Leland Stanford and ran Stanford Winery
Jeremiah C. Sullivan, Union Army general and staff member of Ulysses S. Grant
Charles Lee Tilden, namesake of Tilden Regional Park
Douglas Tilden, sculptor

[edit] Trivia

The hardcore punk band AFI used this cemetery as a setting in segments of the music video for "Totalimmortal".

In June 2005 the cast and crew of RENT filmed scenes for the song "Goodbye Love" at the second fountain [on the main road] of Mountain View Cemetery. Although the shoot took place in early Summer, the trees surrounding the area were later re imaged to reflect Fall season in New York. See == [1]