SALEM — The City of Salem is steeped in history, attracting more than one million visitors annually from all over the world who come to the city to see the sights.
From the month-long Haunted Happenings Halloween celebration and Salem Willows Park, to its many attractions, museums and tours, the city is a favorite among families and lovers of the occult alike. In normal times, visitors pour more than $100 million on average each year into the economy.
One of the city’s best-kept secrets are its cemeteries. Salem is home to several burial grounds of historical significance, including the three related to the 1692 witch trials (Broad Street, Howard Street and Charter Street).
But it’s Greenlawn Cemetery that is in the national spotlight these days.
Greenlawn, built in 1807 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, is home to the F. Carroll Sargent Arboretum. The arboretum recently learned that it was approved for Level 1 accreditation by The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and The Morton Arboretum for “achieving standards of professional practices deemed important for arboreta and botanic gardens.”
“As a historic publicly-owned arboretum, accreditation opens up access to important resources that will support this unique collection,” Christine Lutts, president of Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery, Inc., adding that resources include access to funding opportunities, exchanges of seeds and seedlings, and collaboration on scientific studies.
Lutts said the accreditation brings with it a designation of Greenlawn Cemetery as a green space, which will open many doors that will help improve, maintain and restore the historic property.
“Hopefully (the cemetery will) have new opportunities for green space or environmental grants and funding, not just historic,” Lutts said. “While first and foremost, Greenlawn is a cemetery, we hope to continue our efforts to hold fundraisers, tree strolls, as well as historic tours to help the City of Salem maintain, beautify and restore this beautiful, historic, arboretum cemetery gem and Salem treasure for generations to come.”
The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program is the only global initiative that officially recognizes arboreta at various levels of development, capacity and professionalism. The accreditation, one of four levels offered by ArbNet, now allows the Sargent Arboretum to be recognized as an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of the world’s arboreta and gardens dedicated to woody plants.
The quest for accreditation began in 2019 through a collaboration among Lutts, Robert LeBlanc, arborist and superintendent of cemeteries for the City of Salem, and Dr. Lisa Delissio, professor of biology at Salem State University.
In the spring of 2019, Delissio, along with several community members and students from her upper-level botany course, conducted fieldwork in the cemetery. Students collected data on 25 of the hundreds of varieties of tree species found within the arboretum and studied their natural history.
“I am very grateful to the Friends of Greenlawn Cemetery, Prof. Delissio and her students, and Bob LeBlanc and his team for all of their hard work to make this distinction possible,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll. “This accreditation recognizes the important ecological and scientific value of the F. Carroll Sargent Arboretum and makes possible further efforts to preserve and improve this remarkable gem in our community.”
The arboretum is home to many threatened and endangered species of woody plants. A Workers Progress Administration project, it was created in the mid-1930s. Workers planted hundreds of labeled trees, shrubs, and woody vines in the cemetery, creating one of the most diverse arboreta in Massachusetts. The Arboretum features many varieties of trees and shrubs from all over North America, China, Japan, Europe, Manchuria, Siberia and Korea. Notable specimens include Amur Cork, Dawn Redwood, Osage Orange, Yellowwood, and Katsura Trees.
Delissio’s involvement began when she reached out to the Friends of Greenlawn two years ago.
“(After that), she came to our monthly meeting and the rest is history,” said Lutts. “We are continuing to do the inventory of the collection of trees and shrubs in Greenlawn. This fall the students in Dr. Delissio’s class will confirm the identifications of the trees and shrubs and begin to characterize the arboretum in terms of species and collections of particular interest.”
“This is deeply meaningful work,” said Delissio. “My students and I are excited to be part of it.”