G Brown Design, Inc. has been working with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, in Southern California, to complete the master plans on four major cemeteries; the Moravian Cemetery, Tribal Cemetery and the St. Mary’s Old and St. Mary’s New Catholic Cemeteries. The historic cemetery sites once possessed an intimate feeling, characterized by long-standing tribal burial traditions. Over the years, however the growth of the cemeteries was beginning to cause some problems; the plot layouts and allocations were inconsistent and haphazard; access, parking, and facilities were nonexistent or inadequate, and landscaping was minimal. The GBD team worked closely with the tribe to understand their cultural heritage and traditions and to develop four cemetery master plans to address the tribe’s growing need for improved and expanded burial facilities. This included analysis of the existing burial ground conditions and the important task of locating unmarked gravesites for relocation into cemetery boundaries. These plans specifically include detailed site analyses and illustrative master plans. The four Master Plans also included schematic designs for gravesite layouts, facility locations, plantings, and other site improvements..
