What Is A Cradle Garden? How This Memphis Cemetery Is Preserving A Victorian Tradition

Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis spans nearly 80 acres and is the final resting place for more than 75,0000 individuals and counting. Even today, the massive grounds host hundreds of burials per year. In addition to housing storied Memphians such as Lide Smith Meriwether, a newspaper founder and suffragette, and Robert Church, the South’s first Black millionaire, the cemetery also showcases an intriguing Victorian era tradition—cradle gardens. 

Elmwood Cemetery

Kim Bearden is the Executive Director at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. Her career there spans over 25 years. 

The History of Elmwood

Elmwood was founded by 50 Memphis businessmen in 1852. Located 2.5 miles from the city center, the goal was to establish a public cemetery and greenspace that was more serene and parklike than eerie and desolate. As a result, the cemetery has comprehensive greenery and features rolling pathways with loads of shady trees. 

What Is A Cradle Garden? 

Because there are more than 2,500 of them at Elmwood, Victorian-era gravesites called “cradle gardens” have become almost synonymous with the cemetery. Picture an oblong, almost clawfoot bathtub-like shape that lays horizontally on the ground. Victorians called these monuments cradles because they believed that every person was a child of God, regardless of age. The idea was to plant a handsome, lush garden over your loved one’s grave and tend it as a way to spend time with them (metaphorically of course). Victorians planted Day Lilies, roses, irises, and even ever-popular peonies within their cradle garden walls. 

Elmwood Cemetery

Why Does Elmwood Have So Many?

While the true reason cradle gardens are so prevalent at Elmwood remains a mystery, Bearden says that the cemetery has come to believe that the style was simply quite popular in Memphis. “Just like everything else in the world, it depends on who was the salesman,” Bearden jokes. “We believe that there was a salesman who specialized in selling these cradles.” Every cemetery has its identity. Some cemeteries have loads of crosses, angels, and other religious iconography. Some might have handsome obelisks. “Elmwood has a good mixture of these things, too plus a large collection of cradles,” says Bearden. 

Elmwood Cemetery

How Are Cradle Gardens Tended?

Unfortunately, over time, families moved to other cities or stopped caring for their loved ones’ cradles, and the burial option faded in popularity. Eventually, these once verdant gardens became rife with weeds and other unsightly overgrowth. To keep Elmwood’s cradle gardens looking as handsome as possible, Bearden established a volunteer cradle gardening program in 2018. Three gardeners committed to a growing season of tending to three different cradles in various parts of the cemetery, noting challenges and needs. The following year, the program launched, and today it has grown to include more than 100 cradle gardeners. “It’s turned into this beautification project for the cemetery that memorializes the people who were buried in those cradles and is truly a labor of love,” says Bearden. These amateur and master gardeners have made Elmwood a place for people to visit and enjoy, reclaiming it as a greenspace and gathering place as it was originally intended.

How Can You Get Involved In Your Town?

Because the South is one of the oldest parts of the country, there’s a chance you could have a historic cemetery (with cradle gardens, too!) in your hometown. If you are interested in volunteering at a historic cemetery, reach out! Many cemeteries have volunteer opportunities.  At Elmwood, volunteers can be tour guides, archivists, or photographers. “If there isn’t onsite staff, you might consider contacting the city and starting your own “friends of” group,” says Bearden. 

Elmwood Cemetery

When asked about the one thing she wants people to know about historic cemeteries, Bearden answers with a laugh, “That they’re not scary!” Cemeteries founded in the mid-1800s, like Elmwood, were a part of the rural cemetery movement. That idea was to change a cemetery from a forgotten place to one intended to be visited like a park. “Elmwood, like so many other historic cemeteries, is not scary at all. It’s very much filled with nature. The monuments are artistic. There’s a lot of joy and a lot of solace that can come from a visit to a place like Elmwood. Don’t be afraid to visit old historic cemeteries!”