One of Lancaster’s oldest and largest cemeteries, these 22 acres are home to two dozen varieties of trees, including good examples of Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata), White Ash (Fraxinus americana), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) [4th photo], White Fir (Abies concolor), Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), Holly (Ilex opaca) [2nd photo], Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), and most notably Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) [3rd photo][see https://www.lancastercountytrees.org/ginkgo-lancastercemetery].
Some of the trees date back to the farm that “German Reformed Church officials purchased in 1847 to start a cemetery on the edge of the city”(Jack Brubaker, Lancaster Online, April 15, 2016). Maintenance of the large trees in this collection strains the cemetery’s budget and the trees are thus to an extent endangered.
