history continued

Spring Grove’s Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) Grovedates to the 1880s and 1890s, during which time William Salway was the landscape superintendent. Salway’s tenure began in 1883. In 1884, a flood consumed Spring Grove’s main gate, administration building, chapel, and lake sections. The cemetery’s historic documents and records barely escaped ruin, having been saved by dedicated Spring Grove workers. Because the main gate, which provided the only entrance and exit to the cemetery at that time, was blocked during the flood, Salway convinced board members to build a north gate to permit access to the grounds in case of a recurrence of such potentially devastating waters.

Photo © Fredrik Marsh

The Baldcypress tree was not commonly known in the area when it was first planted at the cemetery. The species is native to much of the southeastern United States, from Delaware to Texas and inland up the Mississippi River to southern Indiana, growing mainly along rivers with silt-rich flood deposits. Spring Grove’s use of the Baldcypress has significantly increased the awareness of, and interest in, the tree and it is now more widely used in the region. The tree is known for its buttressed trunk and its knees,” which appear only when it is grown near water.  The “knees” are actually extensions of the roots and serve as means to supply oxygen to the tree. The “knees” are unique to the Baldcypress, as seen at Spring Grove although the Pondcypress (Taxodium ascendens) sometimes produces knees as well. Today, Spring Grove’s Baldcypress Grove is home to over 100 Baldcypress trees, which includes those planted during the 1880s. The trunks vary in circumference from a few inches up to 17 feet around. The grove also includes the largest Baldcypress tree in the state of Ohio, which measures 204 inches around, 110 inches tall, and 60 feet wide.