Looking into the background of the park on Poli St
Cemetery Memorial Park, first established in 1862 by the Catholic Diocese of Monterey Los Angeles, sits on Poli St. and overlooks the ocean with a view of the city.
“I love Cemetery Park. I enjoy going there with my friends to watch the sunset and do crafts. It doesn’t bother me that the park used to be a cemetery. I think it’s cool that there are scattered plaques in the grass,” said Oakley Moran ‘27.
According to the City of Ventura, the City Council adopted an ordinance in 1944 prohibiting burials in any cemetery within the city limits. Many pioneers originally buried at Cemetery Memorial Park were gradually re-interred at Ivy Lawn Cemetery. Deeds from 1950 to 1965 granted the remaining Catholic Church property to the City of Ventura, which in 1965 began preparations to convert the land to a public park by removing the headstones and monuments, turning it into its current form as a patch of land atop Hobson Heights. In 2012, new entrance signs and a Veterans Memorial were installed along with improved landscaping to inform visitors about the history of the park and to honor the people still buried below the park’s lawns.
However, although visited as a dog park or yoga retreat, the history of the memorial park was a controversial transition from Ventura’s first cemetery to a beloved park. “I didn’t really know too much about it being a cemetery before but I feel like that would be kind of an awkward spot for a cemetery to be located but I think it’s a little weird that they turned it into a park for everyone to run and play on after it represented something heartbreaking and sad but also memorable,” said Riley Hotzler ‘27.
A documentary trailer by Brandon Alvis details concerns of citizens with the legality and moral obligations of the city. Descendants of the people buried are not pleased that dogs have free reign to trample over what they see as sacred ground for themselves and their families. William Dewey Hobson, the “father of Ventura County,” is buried there among other important city figures…