The Oak Lawn Cemetery Association is a non-sectarian cemetery located on a 100 acre natural setting in the town of Fairfield, Connecticut. Fairfield is located in the southwestern portion of the State on the shore of Long Island Sound. The cemetery, about to celebrate its 150th anniversary, was founded in 1865. Its name resulted from a fortunate coincidence: in the nineteenth century, Americans regarded the oak and the acorn as symbols of immortality and, by chance, across the street from the cemetery entrance towered a stately oak tree. Subsequent generations would know it as the “Cemetery Oak”. The founders thought the name a logical choice. It was their intention that the grounds serve as a botanical garden in the sense that, while it was to be a natural place, it was to be a carefully designed place, a planned landscape, what landscape architects then called a “lawn park cemetery”. The historic grounds, including more than five miles of paved roads, consist of well-maintained mature trees and shrubs as well as wetlands and wildlife preserves.