Last week, my sister sent photos of the city’s surprising recent landscape work at Vick Cemetery.

I don’t know if the Cemetery Commission has an actual plan for Vick’s upkeep, but this is certainly an improvement over the gloomy, leaf-strewn, dirt-encrusted copse that enshrouded the memorial obelisk for years. The dead cherry trees and dying junipers have been removed, and the hulking hollies limbed up to allow air and light to penetrate the space.

The asymmetry of the sidewalk and brick pavers plucks my nerves, but I’m trying to focus on “big picture.”

The monument is at the high point of the cemetery, and no doubt sits atop dozens of graves. For almost 30 years, it has been the sole grave marker in Vick Cemetery.

Photos courtesy of Karla M. Henderson-Jackson, April 2023.