San Francisco, CA United States |
Golden Gate Park, west of intersection Bowling Green and Middle Drive East | National AIDS Memorial Grove |
since 30 November 1991 unknown |
The idea for the National AIDS Memorial Grove was conceived in 1988 by a small group of San Francisco residents representing a community devastated by the AIDS epidemic, but with no positive way to express their collective grief. They envisioned a serene place where people would come alone or in groups to hold memorial services, to remember among the rhododendrons and redwoods.
The group selected as the site for the Grove the de Laveaga Dell in world-renowned Golden Gate Park, then overgrown and unusable by the public. A team of prominent architects, landscape architects, and designers volunteered to create a landscape plan, the land was leased from the City of San Francisco.
Site renovation began in September 1991, and is still in progress. In October 1996, Congress and the President of the United States designated this site as the National AIDS Memorial proclaiming to the world that there is now a dedicated space in the national public landscape for anyone who has been touched by AIDS.
Since 1991, thousands of volunteers have donated hours participating in monthly Workdays. A paved, wheelchair-compliant path leads to the Circle of Friends, and a gravel access skirts the meadow on its way to the Crossroads Circle. There are seventeen defined areas being planted and maintained by volunteers and the Grove’s full-time city gardener. The Circle of Friends, located at the Dogwood Crescent in the eastern end of the Grove, is the major component in the endowment campaign.
Most memorials are built after the struggle is over. This battle rages on and we cannot wait, lest any one of our loved ones lost to AIDS be forgotten.
National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco
The group selected as the site for the Grove the de Laveaga Dell in world-renowned Golden Gate Park, then overgrown and unusable by the public. A team of prominent architects, landscape architects, and designers volunteered to create a landscape plan, the land was leased from the City of San Francisco.
Site renovation began in September 1991, and is still in progress. In October 1996, Congress and the President of the United States designated this site as the National AIDS Memorial proclaiming to the world that there is now a dedicated space in the national public landscape for anyone who has been touched by AIDS.
Since 1991, thousands of volunteers have donated hours participating in monthly Workdays. A paved, wheelchair-compliant path leads to the Circle of Friends, and a gravel access skirts the meadow on its way to the Crossroads Circle. There are seventeen defined areas being planted and maintained by volunteers and the Grove’s full-time city gardener. The Circle of Friends, located at the Dogwood Crescent in the eastern end of the Grove, is the major component in the endowment campaign.
Most memorials are built after the struggle is over. This battle rages on and we cannot wait, lest any one of our loved ones lost to AIDS be forgotten.
National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco