Dearest friends, neighbors, and tree-lovers near and far –
Before the first bones were ever laid to rest at the Memorial Park of Cypress Lawn; before this heritage landscape became known as a place of passing, a place of death; before the gates were opened, in generations of service to so many thousands of families in need throughout the pioneering state of the grand Gold Rush. Before all of this… trees were planted here!
In the late 1880s, our founder, Hamden Holmes Noble, chose the foundational acreage of our East Campus, somehow deciding that this must be the place. The original sections were laid out and the winding, weaving roads were paved. And too, the establishing collection of trees, from diverse origins ranging far and wide across the planet, were given a place in the humble Town of Colma to root into the soil.
In truth, the nascent seasons of this sacred landscape, which is today richly layered as a palimpsest of both cultural and botanical legacy; in its formative days Cypress Lawn grew primarily as a living collection of woody plants - by definition, an arboretum! From the start, these hallowed grounds have been, and will grow on to be, a meaningful place of trees.
It is this very heritage that the intention of Arboretum Day was established to foster into the future. To protect and steward forward for generations yet to know and enjoy. Indeed, this must be the place! For us all to come together, to thrive in the grace of loving community, to reclaim our primal kinship with the wooden ones and learn anew how to celebrate life!
We may not know how many moments are on our collective horizon to share, so in this present spirit I invite you all to join us this autumn, for the rooting tradition now embraced throughout Colma as Arboretum Day. Until then, farewell my friends!
Your ever-humble Arboretum Director,
Josh Gevertz
