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The view of Canandaigua Lake and beyond from behind the Calihan family monument at the Canandaigua Lakeview Cemetery. |
Gorham, N.Y. -
It’s a beautiful spot. From a grassy knoll, you get a panoramic view of Canandaigua Lake and forested ravines.
This 6.7-acre lot tucked between two wooded hedgerows on the north side of Jones Road would be coveted as a place to build that dream home.
But this land was purchased in 1994 with a different purpose in mind. Joe and Brenda Calihan already had a cottage on Canandaigua Lake. They went looking for land only after a trip to Pittsburgh, Pa., for a family funeral. The cemetery overlooked the largest steel mill in Pittsburgh.
“My wife, Brenda, asked me if this is where we were going to end up?” said Joe.
They knew they wanted something else.
The Calihans decided a hill overlooking the lake would serve nicely as a resting place for themselves, their family and friends.
“We saw the property and fell in love with it, with those remarkable ravines on each side to provide protection,” said Calihan.
With the help of Del Cronise from Del Cronise Landscaping and Design, the $35,000 property was transformed into Canandaigua Lakeview Cemetery. Sugar maple, ash and red oak dot the property. Aromatic sumac form a semi-circular hedge around the gathering area. Paper bark maples and shrub roses were planted on either side of the stone steps descending to the burial area. Bayberry was planted at the base of the steps, said Cronise.
Over the last few years, five burials took place in the little cemetery, all of them were personal for Cronise.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into that place,” he said, explaining that half of the burials were family and the others were people he came to know that lived in the area and stumbled across the cemetery.
The Calihans placed their family monument in the cemetery and marked an area that would accommodate 40 graves. After sinking $240,000 into the cemetery for the purchase, development and 14 years of maintenance, they turned Canandaigua Lakeview Cemetery over to an organization that would provide perpetual care.
Ownership was transferred, Jan. 1, 2008, to White Haven Memorial Parks Inc. of Pittsford.
“Our objective all along was to create a dignified cemetery for our family and our descendants that would include perpetual care, and we accomplished that with the merger,” explained Calihan.
“We thought it would be a good fit because of all the nature elements,” said Andrea Vittum, White Haven’s president and CEO. She explained how White Haven has an interest in preserving forests and meadows. White Haven is a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, a national environmental program that helps landowners manage their property with wildlife and the environment in mind.
“We try to plant native species, control our energy usage and conserve resources such as water,” explained Vittum. “We have an active bluebird nesting box program (on its Marsh Road property) with one planned for Lakeview.”
White Haven has big plans for Lakeview. No burials in rows with markers for this cemetery. Individual landscaped beds with large rocks in place of headstones mark future grave sites. The rocks were placed in circular fashion surrounding plantings in the center of each bed. At burial, a bronze plaque will be placed among the rocks with names and dates.
“We didn’t want to turn Lakeview into a traditional cemetery with rows of monuments, so we came up with an all new natural stone design,” said Vittum. “Although other cemeteries out west are using this concept, no one has ever seen a cemetery layout like this.”
For further information visit www.canandaigualakeview.com or call (877) 234-5251.
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