Significant Tree Lecture with Historical Ecologist Michael Gaige

Join us as we explore Oak Hill’s tree-scape looking at the cemetery’s oldest trees. We will discuss how to recognize them, identify different species, and what the cemetery may have looked like in the early 19th century.

In 2024 the Oak Hill Cemetery Historic Preservation Foundation commissioned a Significant Tree Report of the grounds to understand our historical ecology even before the cemetery was created. The report is a focused approach to understanding the property’s history including a field inventory and archival research. This seated lecture in the Renwick Chapel will higlight the finding of the Report and how it will serve as a foundation for our emerging Landscape Archive as well as our Landscape Master Plan to ensure that we document, understand and can preserve our historic tree canopy.

Michael Gaige is an independent consulting ecologist based in upstate New York. His work explores the intersection of nature, culture, and history at the landscape level. Michael works with organizations, private landowners, and design teams on park and landscape projects, historical ecology inventories, and conservation planning for natural areas.