A Quaker Cemetery at Coalbrookedale
Nora Saltonstall’s Letter
The Design Some of the most moving cemeteries in America are empty, at least of headstones. The early Quakers thought markers vain and buried their dead in walled green compounds such as the Princeton Burying Ground. Such spaces draw their power not from the presence of what is within but from our ability to endow their emptiness with the knowledge that we bring with us, of what they commemorate. This design is thus a cenotaph, an empty tomb, and it a lawn-an inaccessible, abstract floating lawn. No one will be allowed to walk on it except at the paved “Island” at its end. It is a place of refuge and contemplation but with a porous border that allows it to be glimpsed by from the outside. At the end of the elevated Lawn is the “Island” containing a stone slab topped with a glass case containing a facsimile of a letter, that is periodically changed, by a minor, not well-known service person. The emphasis of the letters is to be on the ordinary lives of ordinary people who, collectively, did extraordinary things. Surrounding the Lawn is smaller series of monuments more specific in nature to the units, military and non-military, that participated in the war. There are thus two narratives in the memorial, two ways to experience it and two ways to move through it, described to the right.
The First Narrative
The Second Narrative
The first narrative is historical memory. The inner courtyard containing the lawn holds a series of monuments and flags, each representing a particular unit of the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine and, if desired, non-military organizations such as the Red Cross or the AFS. While individuals are not memorialized by name one can locate a monument the corps or division they were a member of.
The second narrative, or route, is more personal and less heroic. It is the story of individuals.
(A) Entering from the East, the visitor walks around the lawn, passing the unit monuments. (B) The adjacent lawn is raised above the paving to a height too great to allow one to sit on it. The proposed arrangement of the monuments would be by military or civilian subunits such as a Corps with a list of its divisions. This would allow for Black regiments and divisions with regional affiliations, such as 93rd infantry division that included the “Harlem Hellfighters,” to be individually commemorated. It would also be a means of recognizing such historically neglected units and correcting past injustices such as the army‘s refusal to recognize women who worked as bilingual operators in the Signal Corps, the “Hello Girls,” as members of the armed forces. (C) The visitor goes under the bridge to the Island and returns along the monuments on the opposite side.
The monument under the tent containing the letters is protected by a smaller canopy. This may be enclosed with a glass envelope and glass doors if desired or needed.
(D) The sequence ends at the Northeast corner of the site on Pennsylvania Avenue, a point from which the visitor will have a view of the Capitol. The pattern of the existing street trees and, insofar as possible, the trees themselves is maintained, particularly along Pennsylvania Avenue, which will preserve the view to Capitol.
(E) The journey begins at the east end of the site facing the Island across the Lawn. (F) The visitor moves outside and around the Lawn behind the wall formed by the seating, moving along a ramp in the South Corridor. A few small displays detailing of the lives of ordinary service personnel are placed long the ramp. (G) The South Corridor leads to the West corridor, then to the entry to the Island at its Western end. (H) The monument on the island is the goal of the progression. The Island contains a stone and glass case containing a facsimile of a letter by a minor, preferably not well-known service person. A possible example, illustrated, is a letter from Nora Saltonstall, an American nurse who served with the Red Cross and French Army. The letters would be selected not for their profound thoughts or patriotic fervor but rather for their everydayness. The structure on the island is a granite tent. The relevance of the tent to the military is obvious, and petrification is the means of commemoration in all cultures. The origins of architecture are the memorial, particularly the memorial for the departed, and throughout history and across cultures, many of the enduring devices have been created by making the ephemeral permanent. The tent becomes stone. (I) The sequence ends at the Northwest corner of the site at the relocated but unchanged Pershing Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue.
A possible design for one of the 36 unit memorials- The insignia of the I Corps is at the top of a monument followed by a list of the divisions that made up that Corps, with the I Corps flag at the side. All of the services as well as non-military organizations would be represented in similar fashion. Plan Legend 1. Entry plaza 2. Elevated lawn 3. Amphitheater with seats facing Lawn 4. “Island” with memorial slab and letters 5. Letter memorial slab and case 6. Supports for granite tent above 7. Trees in elevated planter 8. Entry to unit memorial passage 9. Unit memorials and flags 10. Exit from unit memorial passage 11. Entry to individual memorial passage 12. South Corridor with ramp to West Corridor 13. West Corridor 14. Entry to Island and bridge over passage 15. Pershing Memorial (Relocated) 16. Pennsylvania Avenue ROW Line 17. Existing trees in planters to remain
View West from 15th Street Entry toward the Island
Plan 1”=20’-0”
View East from the Island toward Freedom Square
Section Looking West toward Sherman Park 1”=20’-0”
Journey’s End
In the second narrative the visitor moves from the entry on the east side to the South Corridor with information stations on ordinary individuals who served in the war along its length. A long ramp leads to the West Corridor, then the“island” at the head of the Lawn,
View Along Pennsylvania Avenue South
In the first narrative, the visitor enters from the East, the walks around the lawn, passing the unit monuments, the under the bridge to the island, returning on the north side. The island with the stone tent is accessible only from the outer corridor.
Section Looking North toward Willard Hotel 1”=20’-0”
View at South Edge of Lawn