City hopes to make Pioneer Cemetery come alive

The Hillsboro City Council and staff are discussing plans to make the Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery more alive than ever with improved visitor access, new plant species and community events such as historical re-enactments.

The cemetery can really be a place for education, said Hillsboro city recorder and cemetery manager Amber Ames. The city hired Kurt Lango of Lango Hansen Landscape Architects to create a new master plan for the cemetery and present it at a recent council meeting.

We looked at a number of options, said Lango, including how people entered the cemetery with or without vehicles, areas for potential interpretive opportunities to tell the citys history, and we looked at maintenance issues such as plant upkeep.

The changes proposed in the master plan are extensive. On the structural level, they include installing new gates for vehicular and pedestrian access, repaving walkways and building plazas and memorial areas to make the cemetery more accessible to visitors.

We want people to take a look at it; make it visible, said Lango.

Meanwhile, the introduction of native plants such as shadbush and red ferns will reduce maintenance costs and evoke a timeless landscape.

We try to have a light touch, said Lango. Because with the oaks and the gravesites and the rolling hills we dont want to take away from that historical character.

According to the master plan, changes also include the installation of plinths with art work of historic interpretive elements devised with the Hillsboro arts community to create a meandering experiences punctuated by benches and planting areas set within the gravel surface.

The purpose of the new master plan is to encourage community involvement in the cemetery.

Historically, cemeteries were used actively by city dwellers as a cooler area for gatherings and picnics, added Lango. So with the Pioneer Cemetery, its interesting a lot of people dont know its there.

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City hopes to make Pioneer Cemetery come alive