Generations of local people who called Medina and surrounding townships home now rest in Spring Grove Cemetery. Created in 1883, it is a cemetery of the Rural Cemetery Movement, which became popular after the Civil War. Characteristic of that type of cemetery design are old forest, winding paths and roadways, rustic stone structures and lakes. Today Spring Grove is in the process of being restored to its former beauty. A new lake has been built and an old lake restored. Two new gardens beautify the grounds. The 1884 chapel has been fully restored; the mausoleum’s roof, stained glass, bronze doors and stone walls have been fully restored; a columbarium designed to fit seamlessly into the historic landscape was built by the new lake, the Baby Section has been refurbished and beautified.

Spring Grove Cemetery has been awarded Level II Accreditation by the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and is now recognized as an arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of the world’s arboreta and gardens. As the first and only arboretum in Medina County, our community will be greatly enhanced by this prestigious designation. The mission of Spring Grove Arboretum is to provide public access to green space in a portion of Medina’s urban forest through outreach and education about the historical and cultural importance and preservation of its valuable trees, shrubs, and woody plants.

The arboretum is the result of a partnership between the Friends of the Cemetery and the City of Medina that spans over two decades of maintaining, preserving, and planting trees and developing gardens at Spring Grove. We have 613 trees in our collection of which are 68 species. We have plans of reaching 100 species with new plantings this spring. Each tree in our collection has been documented in the 2020 Spring Grove Cemetery Tree Inventory and Management Plan (view the Spring Grove Arborscope Tree Survey below). Informative signage will be installed at each species of tree at Spring Grove.

Spring Grove Cemetery grounds are open to the public every day and the public is encouraged to use the grounds for exercise, bird and wildlife watching, relaxation, reflection, and, of course, to enjoy the beauty of the arboretum.