Woodlawn Cemetery

Just a friendly reminder that all summer decorations must be removed by October 15th. No decorations allowed from Oct. 15th - Nov. 15th to allow for grounds cleanup. Winter decorations, consisting of wreaths on a stand, may be placed after November 15th. Thank you for your cooperation!

Did You Know... That many fascinating people have chosen the beautiful grounds of Woodlawn as their final resting place? It’s been a little while since the last Did You Know tidbit and many events have occurred in the country since. With the current turmoil surrounding people’s rights, it is only fitting that the next individual be recognized. Next up on the not so notable (but should be) interment list is Crystal Catharine Eastman. See why she was once called the most... dangerous woman in America! Go to www.woodlawncemeterycca.org and click on the Did You Know tab to see why Crystal is more than your average gal. While you’re there, check out the photos of the chapel restoration and consider making a donation to support ongoing efforts.

As the Finger Lakes region enters phase 3 of the NYunPause reopening, Woodlawn will be easing prior restrictions that were put in place due to COVID-19. 1. Due to its size, the cemetery office will remain closed. Any person needing assistance should contact the office via phone or email. Arrangements will be made to accommodate the needs of cemetery patrons. 2. Chapel use/rental will remain suspended.... 3. Funeral services shall practice social distancing and continue to where a mask. 4. Tents and chairs are, once again, allowed for services. These guidelines are for everyone’s safety and may change without notice.

Here is the 22 second snip it from the 4+ minute video.

As we learned about a different kind of visitor in the cemetery last night, I grabbed my camera to go get some photos. As the light grew dim and poor grainy photos was all that I was getting, I decided to prop my phone up against a tree and record video as the visitor was headed my way. I then exited quickly. The original video is about 4 1/2 minutes long but only 20 seconds really mattered. I "bear-ly" escaped! The video isn't uploading to our page for some reason. (I'm having horrible issues with facebook right now). Anyways, here is a still pic taken from the video.

On Friday, May 29th at approximately 7:25 pm, an incident occurred at Woodlawn that has caused damage to the cemetery grounds and numerous headstones. A vehicle drove thru two sections, Sections 25 & 28, toppling headstones and causing a lot of damage. Security cameras have identified a vehicle and the City of Canandaigua Police Department is handling the investigation. A suspect has been identified. Cemetery staff will reset monuments on their foundations as soon as possible. We are truly sorry for this unfortunate incident. We work very hard to maintain a high level of expectation and it pains us equally to have this happen at our beautiful cemetery.

With the cancellation of the annual Memorial Day ceremony, Woodlawn was honored to have Bob Groeling, a bugler for Bugles Across America, play TAPS in the veterans section as a tribute to all those that have served in the armed forces. Thank you Bob!

UPDATED GUIDELINES FOR CEMETERY VISITORS - Practice social distancing. - Keep groups to 4 people or less. - No congregating.... These rules may change without notice. The cemetery implemented guidelines in early April to address the influx of visitors to the cemetery which worked very well. The cemetery has monitored the situation since those guidelines were imposed and have noticed that visitors have responded to them in a positive manner. It has been decided to "relax" guidelines so that the community can once again enjoy Woodlawn, its tranquility and beauty, as long as visitors continue to abide by the guidelines of the cemetery and current society. Woodlawn, first and foremost, is a cemetery and should be respected as one. It is not a playground, dog park, etc. Please respect the grounds, staff and other visitors. Many visitors don't realize that the cemetery is not owned by the municipality or church, it is private property. If there becomes an issue with people abusing the right to visit the grounds, the cemetery will revert back to the previous guidelines. Once again, it's all up to our visitors on how we proceed over the next several weeks. Previous guidelines regarding funeral services, chapel use suspension and office closure remain in effect.

UPDATED GUIDELINES FOR CEMETERY VISITATION - EFFECTIVE FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020 - Access to the cemetery is limited to people visiting loved ones sites only. - NO recreational walking, jogging, biking, etc. or non essential visitation is allowed.... (These rules may change without notice.) As we all learn to adjust to the new normal for the time being, the cemetery has also had to adjust to the well being of the staff, the grounds and visitors. While we sincerely appreciate that the community views the cemetery as a picturesque, tranquil park-like atmosphere, we also have an obligation to not only the lot owners but to EVERYONE. Area parks under scrutiny and discipline of groups or people congregating are possibly contributing to the increase number of visitors to Woodlawn over the last several weeks. Good weather, among other factors, have created a large increase of visitors to the cemetery by as much as 4 times on a nice weekend, a large percentage of which are not visiting loved ones but rather here to enjoy the grounds. This has had an adverse effect on the cemetery itself, but more importantly, a neglect of what our society should be practicing at this time. The cemetery has guidelines, recommended by NYS, to implement certain procedures for funeral services, one of which is to limit attendance to 10 people. This is hard to explain to a family at a difficult time when days prior they witness as many as 12-20 people walking together throughout the grounds of the cemetery, as we have seen recently. Trying to avoid closure of the grounds, we are attempting to establish guidelines that allow families to still visit their loved ones at this difficult time. We will be monitoring this over the next several days. If there continues to be issues with people abusing the right to visit the cemetery grounds, the next step will be limiting cemetery hours each day. The final step will be to close the cemetery indefinitely, which we do not want to do. It's all up to our visitors on how we proceed over the next several weeks.

Just a friendly reminder that all winter decorations/wreaths are to be removed by March 15. No decorations are permitted from March 15 - April 15 to allow for spring cleanup.

FOR SALE - 2012 Jacobsen Turfcat 628D 4wd mower. It was purchased new in 2013 and is in very good condition with low hours (2,162 hrs) and full maintenance records. It has a 26 hp Kubota diesel engine; 63" cut; side discharge deck; and it is 4wd. One of the best commercial mowers on the market! Asking price is $5,400. If you are interested or know of anyone that may be looking for a great deal, please contact the cemetery office. Thanks!... (Photo is not the actual mower, but it is the Turfcat 628D)

Thank you to the friends of Woodlawn and community members for spreading the word about dumping items at the cemetery. The person of interest has been identified and the problem has been resolved. We like to keep our page positive so the initial post will be deleted. For those of you that may have misunderstood, we would like to clear up this situation. If this individual needed so badly to get rid of a tree here at the cemetery, he should have simply asked and we would have ...taken care of it, not that we want to set a precedence. Woodlawn is a PRIVATE non profit cemetery and like any other private property, should be respected. It was simply the principle of the situation and these type of actions are not going to be tolerated on cemetery grounds. This is not the first time that we have had issues similar to this. Thanks to visitors that may have witnessed events and/or security camera footage, many problems have been solved. Once again, thank you to everyone for your input.