Overview Calendar of Upcoming Events:

Weekly until the end of October:

Monday 9am: Walking Tour with a view – History and Flora, except Sept. 1st (Labor Day), Sept. 29th, Oct.13th  up to and including October 29th.
Tuesday 5.30pm: Cemetery Walking and Running Group

Thursday July 24th, August 14th and 28th, 6-8pm: Headstone Cleaning

Special Events

Friday Sept. 12th, 5.30-7.30pm: Monarch Butterfly Celebration and Release
Sunday Oct.12th, 1-4pm: Founders, Feathers and Flora – Re-enactors and more
Sunday Oct.26th, 2pm: 5M Trail Race and Hike

Future Events

December: Wreath Making Workshop
January: Maple Syrup Tapping
March 7th: Celtic Calling Kilt 5K Run and 2K Walk

Mondays at 9am: Walking Tour with a view – History and Flora

The weekly walks with a view will introduce you to Charleston history, decorative monuments, selected landscape features, trees and shrubs and much more. Meet at the Mausoleum/Office Administration Building. We may drive from there to a different starting point. Walks will change weekly and will consider walkers’ interests and abilities. Please call 304 348 8010 for more details, and/or if you would like to arrange a group tour on a different day.

Tuesdays at 5.30pm: Cemetery Walking and Running Group

Come and enjoy over 5 miles of internal paved quiet roads in beautiful Spring Hill Cemetery, Park and Arboretum.
At this time of year always something new coming in to bloom.
Modeled on Park Run US, but not affiliated, this is a free, community event where you can walk, jog, or run, a 5k or as much as you can manage on as flat a course as the Cemetery allows. You will get to enjoy great scenery and views. This will not be a timed event but you are welcome to run against your own watch. You can test yourself or enjoy the company of an encouraging group. Everyone is welcome to come along. Brochures sharing information about Charleston's history and the trees in the arboretum will be available for walkers.
This will be a recurring event every Tuesday, until the end of October.

Thursday July 24th, August 14th and 28th, 6-8pm: Headstone Cleaning

Would you like to learn and help to clean headstones on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month with members of Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery Park and Arboretum ? No experience necessary, wear work clothes, all materials provided. We will work in different areas of the Cemetery and learn about some of the history of that section. Meet at the Mausoleum/Office Administration Building. If you are coming a little late, send a message to the page, to be alerted as to where we will be working that evening.

Friday Sept. 12th, 5.30-7.30pm: Monarch Butterfly Celebration and Release

An educational evening, exploring the butterfly garden and nature trail, kids’ activities that highlight stewardship of the environment. A Monarch Butterfly release will take place at 7pm. This is the 21st year anniversary of West Virginia Monarch Butterfly Day and we will be celebrating with its founder.

  • Heather Tokas is an award-winning butterfly educator and entrepreneur and owner of  Butterflies from Heather. In 2004, she founded West Virginia Monarch Butterfly Day, which is observed every year on Sept. 12th, through legislation (HCR28), sponsored by 5 senators and 7 delegates. She will be on hand with butterfly information and projects and do a monarch butterfly release at 7pm.

  • Chris Higgins, from the Ratrie Arboretum at Spring Hill Cemetery Park will be on hand to answer questions about the butterfly garden, plants to benefit pollinators and land management practices at Spring Hill.

  • Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery Park and Arboretum will be available to inform you about the Cemetery and explain their role in beautification projects.

The monarch was adopted as West Virginia’s official state butterfly in 1995. The legislative resolution noted that the monarch is “one of the most beautiful butterflies in the region” and “exists in abundance in West Virginia.”

Fast Forward to December 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that “adding the monarch butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species is warranted” – but was not listed because the agency had too few resources to cover too many other high-priority needs.

The Noah Jarrell Monarch waystation at Spring Hill is a perennial and annual flower garden planted with plants that host and feed butterflies. It is named for Noah Jarrell, a student who was instrumental in petitioning the City of Charleston to establish a waystation. It was started at Spring Hill in 2022. Conservation Corner adjacent to the garden is a wild area of open meadow, with some additional shrubs and tree plantings; many of which are host plants for butterflies. A short, mulched Nature Trail winds through it.

The event will take place around the Butterfly Garden located on Sunset Drive. It is recommended that you come up to Spring Hill Cemetery from Piedmont Road onto Farnsworth Drive. Signs will take you from the red brick Administration Building, along Middleton Drive, to a gravel Parking Lot (short walk), or to the Butterfly Garden, where there is limited parking.

As you drive along Middleton look on your left for a large Celtic Cross on your left beyond Lucas Drive, dedicated to the memory of William Henry Edwards (1822 –1909). Edwards came to West Viriginia and opened some of the earliest mines in the southern part of the state. He was also a prominent naturalist specializing in the study of butterflies. He wrote The Butterflies of North America, a three-volume treatise that is still highly regarded and used today for its scholarship and the quality of its illustrations. His daughter and family are buried in the plot.

Sunday October 12th, 1-4pm: ‘Founders, Feathers and Flora’

Discover Charleston’s Rich History on a self-guided walk through the beautiful Cemetery Grounds and Arboretum where you can enjoy magnificent views and interact along the way with:

  • Reenactors telling the stories of historical Charleston

  • Book Authors

  • History Organizations representing historic houses and business’s from the Kanawha Valley.

  • Learn about the Park and Arboretums Feathers and Flora from experts in their field

  • Music

  • Leashed dogs are welcome.

  • K.R.T Trolley rides should be available from downtown and on-site parking are available

  • Attendance is Free

  • NEW THIS YEAR * HORSE CARRIAGE RIDES

Watch this space for schedule announcements.
Part of Charleston’s city-wide Celebration of the Arts, FESTIVFALL Oct. 8-12th: https://festivallcharleston.com/

Sunday October 26th, 2pm: All of the Colors – 5M Trail Race or Hike.

See the Cemetery as never before, using green lanes, single track trails in the woodland boundary, and enjoying open ridge tops with stunning views up and down the Kanawha Valley; in the best time to experience fall color. This is a challenging route with over 1000ft of elevation. All participants will receive a handcrafted wooden finishers medal, as well as running awards for overall and age group first place male and female finishers. Hikers will receive an informative brochure, highlighting points of interest as they traverse the course.

Entry Fees for Runners and Walkers:

Sign up before 7/ 20 - $20
Sign up before 9 / 20 - $ 25
Sign up before 10 / 20 - $30 (Last day for online registration )
On Day/Live Registration: Come early, 1hr before race time (Cash or Check) - $35

Day of Race:

Parking: Signage and Stewards will direct you to Parking areas. They are located at East and West gates and may be as much as 1/2 mile away. Participants are encouraged to carpool, from Parking at Laidley Field.
1pm - Check in, collect Race # and registration at Administration Building.
1.45pm - Registration and Race # pickup closes.
2pm - Race and Hike Start Time
The course starts and finishes at the Administration Building. The course for the most part follows the boundary edge of the Cemetery and takes you to points East and West, low and high points in the 180 acre Cemetery.

ONLINE REGISTRATION: https://runsignup.com/.../AllOfTheColorsTrailRaceOrHike

After expenses, all proceeds go to Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery Park & Arboretum for future tree planting in the Mary Price Ratrie Arboretum. This non-profit organization works in cooperation with the City of Charleston to promote, enhance and develop Spring Hill Cemetery Park and Mary Price Ratrie Arboretum, for the use and enjoyment of the public.