The Mountain View Cemetery is a

rural cemetery A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-19th century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries, which tended to be churchyards. Rural cemeter ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, United States. 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 Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

, the

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

who also designed

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, and much of

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Many of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

's important historical figures, drawn by Olmsted's reputation, are buried here. There are many grandiose

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

s in tribute to the wealthy, especially along the ridge section with a view across the Bay to the San Francisco skyline, known as "Millionaires' Row". Because of this, and its beautiful setting, the cemetery is a tourist draw. Tours led by

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

s began in 1970.

Design

Olmsted's intent was to create a space that would express a harmony between humankind and the natural setting. In the view of 19th century English and American

romantics Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, park-like cemeteries, such as Mountain View, represented the peace of nature, to which humanity's soul returns. Olmsted, drawing upon the concepts of American Transcendentalism, integrated Parisian grand monuments and broad avenues. Adjoining Mountain View Cemetery is Saint Mary Cemetery and the Chapel of the Chimes mausoleum and columbarium.

Notable burials

There are many notable people interred in Mountain View; many are local figures in California history, but others have achieved wider fame.

Politicians and government officials

* Washington Bartlett,

Mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the Government of San Francisco, San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either appro ...

(1882–1884),

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

(1887) * Coles Bashford,

Governor of Wisconsin The governor of Wisconsin is the head of government of Wisconsin and the commander-in-chief of the state's Wisconsin Army National Guard, army and Wisconsin Air National Guard, air forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the ...

and

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona, commonly known as the Arizona Territory, was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the ...

politician * Leonard W. Buck, rancher, California State Senator. * Warren B. English,

US Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

(D) California * John B. Felton, Mayor of Oakland (1869–1870) * William M. Gwin, one of California's first U.S. Senators * Henry H. Haight, Governor of California (1867–1871) *

William Knowland William Fife Knowland (June 26, 1908 – February 23, 1974) was an American politician and newspaper publisher. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from California from 1945 to 1959. He was Senate Majority L ...

, U.S. Senator, Publisher, ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...

'' * Adolphus Frederic St. Sure, Federal Judge * Samuel Merritt, early

Mayor of Oakland The city of Oakland, California, was founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1854. The city uses a strong mayor form of government. Until the early 20th century, all Oakland mayors served terms of only one or two years each. Oakland mayors now serv ...

Romualdo Pacheco José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco (October 31, 1831January 23, 1899) was a Californio statesman and diplomat. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, he is best known as the only Hispanics and Latinos in California, Hispanic person to serve ...

, Governor of California (1875) * George Pardee, Governor of California (1903–1907) * George C. Perkins, Governor of California (1880–1883); U.S. Senator (1893–1915). * Richard P. Hammond,

Speaker of the California State Assembly The speaker of the California State Assembly is the speaker (politics), presiding officer and highest-ranking member of the California State Assembly, controlling the flow of legislation and committee assignments. The speaker is nominated by th ...

(January–May 1852) and former

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Industrialists and business people

* Warren A. Bechtel (1872–1933), industrialist, founder of the

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

company * Anthony Chabot, the "Water King", father of

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

and benefactor of Chabot Space & Science Center *

Charles Crocker Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took ...

, railroad magnate, banker * William E. Dargie, Owner, ''Oakland Tribune'' * J. A. Folger, founder of Folgers Coffee * Peter Folger (1905–1980), American coffee heir, socialite *

Domingo Ghirardelli Domenico "Domingo" Ghirardelli (; February 21, 1817 – January 17, 1894) was an Italian-born chocolatier who was the founder of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in San Francisco, California. Biography Early life Domenico Ghirardelli was bor ...

, namesake of the

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (simply known as Ghirardelli) is an American confectioner, wholly owned by multinational confectioner Lindt & Sprüngli. The company was founded by and is named after Italian chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli, w ...

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...

(1882–1967), father of modern American

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

* Ingemar Henry Lundquist, mechanical engineer, and inventor of over the wire balloon angioplasty * Joe Shoong, Chinese immigrant and founder of the National Dollar Stores chain * Francis Marion Smith, the "

Borax The BORAX Experiments were a series of safety experiments on boiling water nuclear reactors conducted by Argonne National Laboratory in the 1950s and 1960s at the National Reactor Testing Station in eastern Idaho.

King" * Charles Miner Goodall, Co-Founder of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company * Lewis Bradbury, a gold-mining millionaire who owned the Tajo Mine in Mexico, and later became a real estate developer

Military

* Brigadier General Henry Brevard Davidson of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

* John Coffee Hays, Texas Ranger and first

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

of San Francisco * Eli L. Huggins,

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

soldier and

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient * Henry T. Johns,

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

soldier and

recipient *

Oscar Fitzalan Long Oscar Fitzalan Long (June 16, 1852 – December 23, 1928) was a United States Army Brigadier General (United States), Brigadier General who was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for valor in action on September 30, 1877, near Bear Paw Mountains ...

soldier and

recipient * Jeremiah C. Sullivan, Union Army general and staff member of

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

* Obediah Summers, formerly enslaved, in the

18th United States Colored Infantry Regiment The 18th United States Colored Infantry Regiment was an African-American infantry regiment, raised in the state of Missouri, which served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service Organized in Missouri at large February 1 to Septemb ...

* Adam Weissel,

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

sailor and

recipient

Miller Crypt - Mountain View Cemetery Oakland California

Arts and culture

* Lucy Adeline Briggs Cole Rawson Peckinpah Smallman, botanical artist and plant collector. * Leandro Campanari, Italian-American violinist, conductor, composer and music teacher. * Herbert A. Collins, landscape and portrait artist * Ina Coolbrith (1841–1928), California's first poet laureate * Margaret Girvin Gillin (1833–1915), painter * Andre Hicks (aka.

Mac Dre Andre Louis Hicks (July 5, 1970 – November 1, 2004), known artistically as Mac Dre, was an American rapper, record producer and songwriter from Vallejo, California. He was an instrumental figure in the emergence of hyphy, a cultural movement ...

), Bay Area rapper, record label owner, and producer * Thomas Hill, artist * William Keith (1838–1911), California landscape artist * Bernard Maybeck, architect *

Julia Morgan Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...

(1872–1957), architect *

Frank Norris Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American journalist and novelist during the Progressive Era, whose fiction was predominantly in the naturalism (literature), naturalist genre. His notable works include ''M ...

(1870-1902), author * Floyd Salas (1931–2021), author * Margaret Singer (1921-2003), researcher * Isabel Seal Stovel, organizers of the City of San Francisco Music Week * Bella French Swisher (1837–1893), writer * Douglas Tilden (1860–1935),

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Local history

* David Douty Colton, vice president of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

, namesake of the city of

Colton, California Colton is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Nicknamed "Hub City", Colton is located in the Inland Empire region of the state and is a suburb of San Bernardino, approximately south of the city's downtown. The populatio ...

Henry Durant Henry Durant (June 18, 1802 in Acton, Massachusetts – January 22, 1875 in Oakland, California) was an American minister and educator. He was the founding president of the University of California. Durant also served as Mayor of Oakland.SF Chro ...

, first president of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

* Nannie S. Brown Kramer (1883–1953), organizer, president and membership director of the Oakland Women's City Club * Virginia Prentiss, African-American midwife and nanny to

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

* 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 * William T. Shorey,

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

captain and Oakland civic leader * John Swett, founder of the California Public School System * Charles Lee Tilden, namesake of Tilden Regional Park

Other

* Volney V. Ashford, exiled revolutionary * Cloe Annette Buckel, one of the first female doctors in California *

Glenn Burke Glenn Lawrence Burke (November 16, 1952 – May 30, 1995) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to 1979. He was the first MLB player to come out as gay, announcing it in 1 ...

(1952–1995), first openly gay player in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

* Henry D. Cogswell, dentist and

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

crusader * Marcus Foster, first Black Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California, first victim of the

Symbionese Liberation Army The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (commonly referred to simply as the SLA) was a small, American militant far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. The FBI and wider Am ...

* Eliza Nelson Fryer, educator and missionary * David Hewes, who provided the "

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as the last spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-Carat (purity), karat gold final Rail spike, spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting t ...

" *

Bobby Hutton Robert James Hutton (April 21, 1950–April 6, 1968), also known as "Lil' Bobby," was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party.Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

Fred Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Shortly after the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Ord ...

, challenged

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

in the landmark Supreme Court case

Korematsu v. United States ''Korematsu v. United States'', 323 U.S. 214 (1944), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that upheld the internment of Japanese Americans from the West Coast Military Area during World War II. The decision has been widely ...

* Ike Lassiter, football player * Joseph LeConte, co-founder of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

Ernie Lombardi Ernesto Natali Lombardi (April 6, 1908 – September 26, 1977) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Brooklyn Robins, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves, and New York Giants durin ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Major League Baseball player * Washington J. Oglesby (1859–1902), was an African-American lawyer, one of the earliest in the State of California *

John Norton Pomeroy John Norton Pomeroy (April 12, 1828 – February 15, 1885) was an American lawyer, writer, and law professor. “Perhaps the most important text book writer of the last third of the nineteenth century,” Pomeroy is one of the foremost contri ...

, law professor at

Hastings College of the Law The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a Public university, public Law school in the United States, law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the Univ ...

* Elizabeth Short, unsolved Hollywood murder victim known as the

Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – , 1947), posthumously known as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized owin ...

* There is one British Commonwealth war grave, of Pilot Officer James Raymond Lippi, an American born member of the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

, who died in 1942.http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2719634/LIPPI,%20JAMES%20RAYMOND CWGC Casualty Record. Lippi was born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

and went to Canada to enlist for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* Lee Ya-Ching, China's First Lady of Flight, first female pilot graduated from Geneve-Cointrin (Switzerland) and from Boeing School of Aeronautics. * Zedekiah Johnson Purnell (1813–1882), was an African-American activist, and businessman

In popular culture

Mountain View Cemetery is featured prominently in the 2018 film '' Blindspotting''. Daveed Diggs's character is shown going there for morning runs, and an important scene happens in the cemetery where the character imagines Black victims of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

standing over the graves. In ''The Big Wake-Up'', a 2009 crime novel by Mark Coggins, the main character in the book, a detective named August Riordan, discovers that Argentine first lady

Eva Perón María Eva Duarte de Perón (; ; 7 May 1919 – 26 July 1952), better known as Eva Perón or by the nickname Evita (), was an Argentine politician, activist, actress, and philanthropist who served as First Lady of Argentina from June 1946 until ...

is not at rest in the Duarte family tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires, but is actually buried in Mountain View Cemetery.

References

External links

Mountain View Cemetery web site

Biographies of people buried at Mountain View Cemetery by Michael Colbruno
* {{Authority control Cemeteries in Alameda County, California 01 Geography of Oakland, California History of Alameda County, California History of the San Francisco Bay Area Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in the United States Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area 19th century in Oakland, California 1863 establishments in California Rural cemeteries Tourist attractions in Oakland, California