Buffalo Behind the Scenes: Forest Lawn Cemetery
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- If you look around Forest Lawn Cemetery, you will see signs of life everywhere.
"There are some really unique, really personal memorials that are a testament to the peoples' lives, their passions, their hobbies and the legacy they leave behind," said Director of Community Engagement for Forest Lawn, Amizetta Haj.
For 175 years, Forest Lawn has been a place people can "come home to."
The land was first purchased by a man named Charles Clark when he bought 80 acres to establish what was known then as the Buffalo City Cemetery.
"Rural cemeteries were founded at that time across the United States as cities were growing," said Forest Lawn Cemetery Group CEO Julie Snyder. "Really, they had a fundamental issue, these growing cities: where to place the dead."
Now, 80 acres has grown to nearly 270 acres.
Running an active cemetery is a 365 day operation, and running one as large as Forest Lawn takes even more work.
"We have a logistics side of the business; we have a sales side of the business; and we have a grounds side of the business -- all really important," Snyder said.
With 17 miles of roadway at Forest Lawn, crews must patch, plow and maintain the roads.
The Scajaquada Creek runs through the cemetery as well, creating the only waterfall in the City of Buffalo.
Forest Lawn is also an active arboretum.
"We have almost 4,000 trees here that need to be cared for," said Forest Lawn's certified arborist Andy Howard. "This year we planted 200 trees and removed about 50. I'm trying to get our numbers to 6,000."
In order to receive arboretum status, Forest Lawn needed to plant 25 different species of trees. They currently have more than 200.
"Last year we planted some giant sequoia trees. Who thought they'd grow in Buffalo? But we're trying," Howard said. "Here, we're in a city. But you wouldn't know it."
Forest Lawn has about 170,000 permanent residents, and room for thousands more.
"People often say, 'where are the famous people buried at Forest Lawn?' And sometimes I would say, 'really every person who is here has a story,'" Snyder said.
But there are some well-known names with permanent residency at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
"A lot of people come to meet some of our famous residents, and probably the top few would be the 13th President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, who was President from 1850 to 1853," Haj said. "The very famous punk-funk singer Rick James is also near the top of the list."
"Shirley Chisholm is here," Snyder said. "After she completed her public life, she came to Buffalo and married a Western New Yorker."
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The Field of Valor salutes the men and women who have served our country, with veterans from every conflict since the United States was formed buried there -- including several Medal of Honor recipients.
Snyder said permanent residency often starts with a difficult discussion.
"Taxes and death! I mean, I come to work here everyday and it's like, for sure this is where our journey on earth ends," she said.
No one knows that quite like Judge Barbara Howe, who served as the Erie County surrogate judge from 2004 to 2017.
"That meant I presided over every estate in the County of Erie for that time period, which was thousands and thousands of estates," Howe said. "So, I obviously saw situations for which there were problems."
Howe said after years of seeing families go through the emotional toll of handling the affairs of their loves ones, she wants to save hers the same agony.
"I have many colleagues, friends of mine, who are already here [at Forest Lawn] or who have made plans to be here. In a way, that's comforting to me, and I hope people would get comforted by -- I'm going to be reunited here with a lot of people with whom I've had a long acquaintance and affection," she said.
For the family of Natalie Lewis, they found comfort knowing she was reunited with relatives after her tragic death. Natalie was killed in a hot air balloon accident in Virginia in 2014.
"When our daughter unexpectedly died, there was a lot we had to deal with, and we weren't ready for," said Natalie's mother, Trish Lewis. "One thing that really gave us comfort was knowing there was a family plot here at Forest Lawn Cemetery."
The family plot had been purchased by Natalie's great-great-grandfather.
"Just like God transcends time, we felt that the family transcends time. And, in a way, they were embracing her," Trish said. "Now we know our daughter Natalie is with her grandparents and her great-grandparents and her aunts and uncles. And they're all together. That's a really lovely thought."
For Western New Yorkers, the cemetery can be a place of grief, but can also bring peace.
"We were built on that tenet that this is a place for the community to come and take a walk, picnic, ride a bike," Haj said. "So we're trying to use this anniversary to remind people the cemetery offers so much."
There are a number of tours, covering things like architecture or nature, one can find at Forest Lawn. People can learn while walking, or riding a trolley.
"We can have fun in the cemetery. Because people are really uncomfortable going to a cemetery, because we as a society connect cemeteries to death and grief, which - of course - is a big part of what a cemetery is about. But it's also a place of remembrance. Hopefully remembering happy memories," Haj said.
Events at Forest Lawn change with the seasons. During October, "Fall in the Forest" or the "Crime and Catastrophe Lantern Tour" bring out large crowds. In December, it's all about highlighting the cemetery's permanent residents with the famous "It Was a Wonderful Life."
"The holiday season is very busy at Forest Lawn. First and foremost, we remain an active cemetery, and this time of year experiencing loss is very difficult," Snyder said.
Hundreds of wreaths are placed at graves, as are other tokens of remembrance of the lives lost.
"At children's graves, infant graves, this time of year there are small Christmas trees, there are toys, there are presents left," Snyder said. "I would say this time of year, the children's graves - especially recent losses in our community - are probably the most striking."
After 175 years, Forest Lawn is looking ahead at what comes next in their continued care of Western New York.
The cemetery is breaking ground on a new mausoleum, and has plans for a $1.5 million project to replace the iconic black wrought iron fence.
But, Snyder said the focus will always be on the permanent residents and their loved ones.
"I do think the permanence of this place and space is so important. And not just for the past, but really for the future," Snyder said. "I would hope that 175 years from now, whoever follows in our footsteps can come to Buffalo, can come to Forest Lawn and see the names, know the lives, the contributions of those individuals that we've had in our community regardless of their title, or what their life really turned out to be."
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This special edition of Buffalo Behind the Scenes was brought to you in part by Photojournalist Allison Staebell and Senior Executive Producer Natasha Yurek.
Marlee Tuskes is an award-winning anchor and reporter who has been part of the News 4 team since 2019. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.