Behind the Bike Ban at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum

Programming Note:

Today, Cincinnati Delusion brings you a guest blog written by Northside resident and avid cyclist, Chris Dobbs. Chris is a Proposal Manager for a mass transit company based here in Cincinnati. Chris lives in the eclectic neighborhood of Northside with his wife. Both Chris and his wife love cycling and Spring Grove Cemetery's proximity was a major reason the pair decided to move to Northside. Like many cyclists, Chris and his wife loved how safe and quiet Spring Grove Cemetery was for bike riders. They are both avid gardeners, so they always loved biking in the springtime to see what new was blooming within our city’s most prominent cemetery. I am very pleased to allow Chris to share his perspective on cycling within our city, specifically within Northside and Spring Grove Cemetery. Both Chris and his wife are training to cycle the GAP and the C&O trail between Pittsburgh and Washington DC this fall, and the bike ban within Spring Grove cemetery has made it significantly harder for them to get a day's exercise in. They are currently trying their best to use the city trails close to them, but they really pale in comparison to the cemetery, and Chris and his wife desperately miss having Spring Grove Cemetery in their lives. You can follow Chris on Twitter at @Cdobbs7! If you would like to submit your own guest blog, contact me at adamscw3@miamioh.edu! Without further ado:

Behind the Bike Ban at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum banned bikes at the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020. Later that year, they announced via Facebook that the ban would be permanent. Bicycles have been allowed in Spring Grove Cemetery for decades. In fact, as dozens of online reviews point out, a bike is one of the best ways to see its 450 developed acres and 44 miles of looping, quiet paved road. 

The cemetery was also a reprieve from Cincinnati’s miserable bicycle infrastructure. There are more miles of paved path inside Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum than there are bike lanes inside the entire City of Cincinnati. The Mill Creek Greenway - which partially runs parallel to Spring Grove Cemetery - is only 3.5 miles long. It’s overgrown, bisected by a five-lane arterial road, and it lacks connection to nearby trails.

Judi LoPresti is the co-owner/operator of Spun Bicycles in Northside. She’s intimately familiar with the city’s broken bike system. “I’ve been banging my head on my desk for a decade - I hate riding in the city,” she told me this week. Judi was a “hardcore city rider” back when she opened her shop in 2012, but the state of Cincinnati’s roads has pushed her rides to the suburbs. Whenever she’s riding in the city, “I text [my husband] every thirty minutes - just something, an emoji” to assure him that she’s alright. Judi and her husband have seen the human cost of Cincinnati’s dangerous bike infrastructure first hand. “All the time: ‘I got hit by a car,’ ‘I have a broken leg,’ ‘I need an insurance check on my bike.’ There are piles of broken bikes [from customers] in my basement.” 

Northside resident, avid cyclist and Cincinnati Delusion guest blogger, Chris Dobbs. Be Be sure to follow him on Twitter @Cdobbs7

A community resource, gone

Spring Grove Cemetery seems to pride itself on being more than a cemetery. This fall, they’re hosting the “Bust a Crust!” 5K race and their 13th annual Cruise-In Car Show. Pre pandemic, Grove was home to golf cart tours, beer tastings, movie nights, and countless prom photographers, picnickers, and joggers. Segway and e-bike tours were held on Tuesday nights. While bicycles are banned, trucks, cars and motorcycles are still free to roam Spring Grove’s paths as they please. Spring Grove’s neighbors certainly think of it as more than a cemetery.

Carol Ann Newsome, a Northside resident, was struck by a car on her bike on Spring Grove Avenue in 2001. The cemetery gave her a chance to get back on the bike. “It’s very safe and beautiful, it soothes my soul,” she said. The cemetery’s slow pace was especially good for her after the accident. “To be able to ride in an environment where, yeah there are cars, but they’re so slow moving, it wouldn’t trigger anything.” Carol continued biking in the cemetery up until the ban. “I really love doing it. I’m 64, my knees are in horrible shape. Bicycling is a lot easier on my joints.”

Other neighbors expressed dismay after the ban was announced. Fred Haegele finished a bike-riding lesson in the cemetery with his son days before the ban went into effect. “It was a memorable day: great weather, and it was definitely the perfect place to teach the kiddo to ride. We haven’t been back since the ban went into effect.”

Spring Grove Cemetery has not yet provided any public reasoning for the permanent rule change. The cemetery is operated by a private corporation, and they have the right to change rules as they please. There are no public meetings, and there is no formal system to petition or challenge rule changes, no matter how many people it may affect.

Cycling in Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum seems like another victim of the pandemic. By fiat, 44 miles of quiet, accessible trail disappeared in the panic of April 2020 and never came back. Spring Grove’s neighbors are poorer for it.

There is a tension underlying Spring Grove’s verdant grounds - should a place for the dead also be a place for the living? With this rule change, Spring Grove administrators have suggested an answer. “No.”

A tree in bloom at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum.