Synopses & Reviews
The Lake View Cemetery, founded in 1869, was modeled after the great garden cemeteries of Victorian England and France. Over 107,000 individuals are interred on the sprawling 285-acre expanse located 4.5 miles from Clevelands Public Square. According to an 1870 Plain Dealer report, the cemetery was designed to combine all the attractive features that “nature and true art can produce” to harmonize natures alphabet—“stone, earth, wood and water.” The landscape was laid out with broad avenues and shady walks “near the fountains in view of many a rustic pile [edifice] and quiet grave and stately monument.” The cemetery became the burial place for many of Clevelands prominent citizens including James A. Garfield, John D. Rockefeller, and J. H. Wade. Cleveland photographer Barney Taxel has spent over a decade, during all seasons, exploring the stunning landmark. The culmination of the personal project is this collection of over two hundred of his creations that reveal the spirit and essence of the Lake View Cemetery.
About the Author
Laura Taxel is the author of Cleveland Ethnic Eats, now in its eighth edition. Her articles have appeared in local, regional, and national publications and on a variety of websites. She has won numerous journalism awards from The Press Club of Cleveland, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, Les Dames D'Escoffier's MFK Fisher competition. Her work was selected for Best Food Writing, an annual anthology featuring writers from around the country, in 2004, 2006, and 2008.Barney Taxel is a full time commercial and fine art photographer whose documentary and advertising photography appears frequently in magazines and newspapers worldwide. His fine art photography is in the permanent collections of The Cleveland Clinic and the Western Reserve Historical Society. Taxel is member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and teaches color and digital photography at Case Western Reserve University. He is co-photographer of The University of Akron Press' Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, 2000.