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Difference between revisions of "Cemetery/Burying ground/Burial ground"

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===Usage===
 
===Usage===
  
Oldmixon, John, 1741, describing Charleston,  
+
* Oldmixon, John, 1741, describing Charleston, S.C. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
  
S.C. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
+
: “[An act established that Charleston was to] be a distinct Parish, by the Name of St. Philip’s in Charles-Town: And the Church and '''Cemetery''' of this Town were enacted to be the Parish Church and Church-[[yard]] of St. Philip’s in Charles-Town.”  
“[An act established that Charleston was to] be  
 
a distinct Parish, by the Name of St. Philip’s in  
 
Charles-Town: And the Church and Cemetery of  
 
this Town were enacted to be the Parish Church  
 
and Church-yard of St. Philip’s in Charles-Town.”  
 
  
Anonymous, 1 7 8 9 , describing in the Christ Church
 
Parish Book plans for expanding the public cemetery
 
in Savannah, Ga. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
 
  
“[Plans have been made] for enlarging the  
+
* Anonymous, 1 7 8 9 , describing in the Christ Church Parish Book plans for expanding the public cemetery in Savannah, Ga. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
present Cemetery or Public Burial Ground.
 
  
Dwight, Timothy, 1796, describing the New
+
: “[Plans have been made] for enlarging the present '''Cemetery''' or Public '''Burial Ground'''.
Haven Burying Ground, New Haven, Conn. (1821:
 
1:190–92)
 
  
“Indubitable proofs of the enterprise of the
 
inhabitants are seen in the Institutions already
 
mentioned. . . . Of these, levelling and enclosing
 
the green, accomplished by subscription, at an
 
expense of more than two thousand dollars, and
 
the establishment of a new public cemetery,
 
accomplished at a much greater expense, are particularly
 
creditable to their spirit.
 
  
“The original settlers of New-Haven, following
+
* Dwight, Timothy, 1796, describing the New Haven Burying Ground, New Haven, Conn. (1821: 1:190–92)
the custom of their native country, buried their
 
dead in a Church-yard. Their Church was erected
 
on the green, or public square; and the yard laid
 
out immediately behind it in the North-Western
 
half of the square. . . . It is always desirable, that a
 
burial-ground should be a solemn object to man;
 
because in this manner it easily becomes a source
 
of useful instruction and desirable impressions.
 
But, when placed in the centre of a town, and in
 
the current of daily intercourse, it is rendered too
 
familiar to the eye to have any beneficial effect on
 
the heart. From its proper, venerable character, it
 
is degraded into a mere common object; and
 
speedily loses all its connection with the invisible
 
world, in a gross and vulgar union with the ordinary
 
business of life.  
 
  
“Besides these disadvantages, this ground was  
+
: “Indubitable proofs of the enterprise of the inhabitants are seen in the Institutions already mentioned. . . . Of these, levelling and enclosing the [[green]], accomplished by subscription, at an expense of more than two thousand dollars, and the establishment of a new public '''cemetery''', accomplished at a much greater expense, are particularly creditable to their spirit.
filled with coffins, and monuments, and must  
+
: “The original settlers of New-Haven, following the custom of their native country, buried their dead in a Church-[[yard]]. Their Church was erected on the [[green]], or public [[square]]; and the [[yard]] laid out immediately behind it in the North-Western half of the [[square]]. . . . It is always desirable, that a '''burial-ground''' should be a solemn object to man; because in this manner it easily becomes a source of useful instruction and desirable impressions. But, when placed in the centre of a town, and in the current of daily intercourse, it is rendered too familiar to the eye to have any beneficial effect on the heart. From its proper, venerable character, it is degraded into a mere common object; and speedily loses all its connection with the invisible world, in a gross and vulgar union with the ordinary business of life.
either be extended farther over the beautiful tract,  
+
: “Besides these disadvantages, this ground was filled with coffins, and monuments, and must either be extended farther over the beautiful tract, unhappily chosen for it, or must have its place supplied by a substitute. To accomplish these purposes, and to effectuate a removal of the numerous monuments of the dead, already erected, whenever the consent of their survivors could be obtained; the Honourable James Hillhouse, one of the inhabitants, to whom the town, the State, and the country, owe more than to almost any of their citizens, in the year 1796, purchased, near the North-Western corner of the original town, a field of ten acres; which, aided by several respectable Gentlemen, he levelled, and enclosed. The field was then divided into parallelograms, handsomely railed, and separated by alleys of sufficient breadth to permit carriages to pass each other. . . . Each parallelogram is sixty-four feet in breadth, and thirty-five feet in length. Each family '''burying-ground''' is thirty-two feet in length and eighteen in breadth: and against each an opening is made to admit a funeral procession. At the divisions between the lots trees are set out in the [[alley]]s: and the name of each proprietor is marked on the railing. The monuments in this ground are almost universally of marble; in a few instances from Italy; in the rest, found in this and neighbouring States. A considerable number are [[obelisk]]s; others are tables; and others, slabs, placed at the head and foot of the grave. The [[obelisk]]s are placed, universally, on the middle line of the lots; and thus stand in a line, successively, through the parallelograms. The top of each post, and the railing, are painted white; the remainder of the post, black. . . .  
unhappily chosen for it, or must have its place  
+
: “It is believed, that this '''cemetery''' is altogether a singularity in the world. I have accompanied many Americans, and many Foreigners, into it; not one of whom had ever seen, or heard, of any thing [''sic''], of a similar nature. It is incomparably more solemn and impressive than any spot, of the same kind, within my knowledge; and, if I am to credit the declarations of others, within theirs. An exquisite taste for propriety is discovered, in every thing belonging to it; exhibiting a regard for the dead, reverential, but not ostentatious, and happily fitted to influence the [[view]]s, and feelings of succeeding generations.”  
supplied by a substitute. To accomplish these purposes,  
 
and to effectuate a removal of the numerous  
 
monuments of the dead, already erected,  
 
whenever the consent of their survivors could be  
 
obtained; the Honourable James Hillhouse, one of  
 
the inhabitants, to whom the town, the State, and  
 
the country, owe more than to almost any of their  
 
citizens, in the year 1796, purchased, near the  
 
North-Western corner of the original town, a field  
 
of ten acres; which, aided by several respectable  
 
Gentlemen, he levelled, and enclosed. The field  
 
was then divided into parallelograms, handsomely  
 
railed, and separated by alleys of sufficient breadth  
 
to permit carriages to pass each other. . . . Each  
 
parallelogram is sixty-four feet in breadth, and  
 
thirty-five feet in length. Each family burying-
 
ground is thirty-two feet in length and eighteen in  
 
breadth: and against each an opening is made to  
 
admit a funeral procession. At the divisions  
 
between the lots trees are set out in the alleys: and  
 
the name of each proprietor is marked on the railing.  
 
The monuments in this ground are almost  
 
universally of marble; in a few instances from  
 
Italy; in the rest, found in this and neighbouring  
 
States. A considerable number are obelisks; others  
 
are tables; and others, slabs, placed at the head and  
 
foot of the grave. The obelisks are placed, universally,  
 
on the middle line of the lots; and thus stand  
 
in a line, successively, through the parallelograms.  
 
The top of each post, and the railing, are painted  
 
white; the remainder of the post, black. . . .  
 
“It is believed, that this cemetery is altogether  
 
a singularity in the world. I have accompanied  
 
many Americans, and many Foreigners, into it;  
 
not one of whom had ever seen, or heard, of any  
 
thing [sic], of a similar nature. It is incomparably  
 
more solemn and impressive than any spot, of the  
 
same kind, within my knowledge; and, if I am to  
 
credit the declarations of others, within theirs. An  
 
exquisite taste for propriety is discovered, in every  
 
thing belonging to it; exhibiting a regard for the  
 
dead, reverential, but not ostentatious, and happily  
 
fitted to influence the views, and feelings of  
 
succeeding generations.”  
 
  
Weld, Isaac, 1799, describing Norfolk County,
 
Va. (pp. 101–2)
 
  
“A custom prevails in Norfolk, of private individuals
+
* Weld, Isaac, 1799, describing Norfolk County, Va. (pp. 101–2)
holding grave yards, which are looked
 
upon as a very lucrative kind of property, the
 
owners receiving considerable fees annually for
 
giving permission to people to bury their dead in
 
them. It is very common also to see, in the large
 
plantations in Virginia, and not far from the
 
dwelling house, cemeteries walled in, where the
 
people of the family are all buried. These cemeteries
 
are generally built adjoining the garden.
 
  
Dwight, Timothy, 1799, describing Stockbridge,  
+
: “A custom prevails in Norfolk, of private individuals holding grave [[yard]]s, which are looked upon as a very lucrative kind of property, the owners receiving considerable fees annually for giving permission to people to bury their dead in them. It is very common also to see, in the large [[plantation]]s in Virginia, and not far from the dwelling house, '''cemeteries''' walled in, where the people of the family are all buried. These '''cemeteries''' are generally built adjoining the garden.
Mass. (1822: 3:408)
 
  
“On our way to Stockbridge we went to the
 
Indian monument, mentioned in a former part of
 
these letters; and, to our great regret, found it broken
 
up in the same manner, as that at New-
 
Milford.
 
  
“I ought, in my account of that, to have added,  
+
* Dwight, Timothy, 1799, describing Stockbridge, Mass. (1822: 3:408)
that this mode of erecting monuments was
 
adopted only on peculiar occasions. The common
 
manner of Indian burial had nothing in it of this
 
nature. The remains of the dead, who died at
 
home, were lodged in a common cemetery,
 
belonging to the village, in which they had lived.
 
  
Lambert, John, 1816, describing New York, N.Y.  
+
: “On our way to Stockbridge we went to the Indian monument, mentioned in a former part of these letters; and, to our great regret, found it broken up in the same manner, as that at New-Milford.
(1816: 2:88)
+
: “I ought, in my account of that, to have added, that this mode of erecting monuments was adopted only on peculiar occasions. The common manner of Indian burial had nothing in it of this nature. The remains of the dead, who died at home, were lodged in a common '''cemetery''', belonging to the village, in which they had lived.”
  
“The church-yards and vaults are also situate
 
[sic] in the heart of the town, and crowded with
 
the dead. If they are not prejudicial to the health
 
of the people, they are at least very unsightly exhibitions.
 
One would think there was a scarcity of
 
land in America, by seeing such large pieces of
 
ground in one of the finest streets of New York
 
occupied by the dead. But even if no noxious
 
effluvia were to arise (and I rather suspect there
 
must in the months of July, August, and September),
 
still the continual view of such a crowd of
 
white and brown tomb-stones and monuments
 
which is exhibited in the Broadway, must at the
 
sickly season of the year tend very much to
 
depress the spirits, when they should rather be
 
cheered and enlivened, for at that period much is
 
effected by the force of imagination. There is a
 
large burying-ground a short distance out of
 
town; but the cemeteries in the city are still used
 
in certain periods of the year.”
 
  
Lambert, John, 1816, describing Savannah, Ga.  
+
* Lambert, John, 1816, describing New York, N.Y. (1816: 2:88)
  
(2:267)
+
: “The church-[[yard]]s and vaults are also situate [''sic''] in the heart of the town, and crowded with the dead. If they are not prejudicial to the health of the people, they are at least very unsightly exhibitions. One would think there was a scarcity of land in America, by seeing such large pieces of ground in one of the finest streets of New York occupied by the dead. But even if no noxious effluvia were to arise (and I rather suspect there must in the months of July, August, and September), still the continual [[view]] of such a crowd of white and brown tomb-stones and monuments which is exhibited in the Broadway, must at the sickly season of the year tend very much to depress the spirits, when they should rather be cheered and enlivened, for at that period much is effected by the force of imagination. There is a large '''burying-ground''' a short distance out of town; but the '''cemeteries''' in the city are still used in certain periods of the year.”  
“A large burying-ground is judiciously situated
 
out of town, upon the common. It is inclosed
 
by a brick wall, and contains several monuments
 
and tomb-stones, which are shaded by willows
 
and pride of India; and have a very pretty effect.
 
This cemetery, though now a considerable distance  
 
from the town, will, in time, most probably,
 
be surrounded by the dwellings of the inhabitants,
 
like those of New York and Charleston.”  
 
  
Anonymous, 1823, describing in the St. Philips
 
Parish Vestry Book a burial request made to the St.
 
Philips Parish, Charleston, S.C. (quoted in Lounsbury
 
1994: 67)
 
  
“[At a meeting of the vestry] a letter from E. S.
+
* Lambert, John, 1816, describing Savannah, Ga. (2:267)  
Garden & B. Bamfield (persons of Colour) were
 
presented . . . wishing to know whether the Vestry
 
would permit their remains to be interred in the
 
Cemetery of the Church at some future day.”
 
  
Fessenden, Thomas Green, 25 January 1823,  
+
: “A large '''burying-ground''' is judiciously situated out of town, upon the [[common]]. It is inclosed by a brick [[wal]]l, and contains several monuments and tomb-stones, which are shaded by willows and pride of India; and have a very pretty effect. This '''cemetery''', though now a considerable distance from the town, will, in time, most probably, be surrounded by the dwellings of the inhabitants, like those of New York and Charleston.”
  
“National Burying Ground” (New England Farmer
 
  
1: 206)
+
* Anonymous, 1823, describing in the St. Philips Parish Vestry Book a burial request made to the St. Philips Parish, Charleston, S.C. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
“This cemetery is in a remote and lonely situation,  
 
being something more than a mile in a
 
southeasterly direction from the Capitol. It lies
 
immediately upon the bank of East Branch, at the
 
distance of only a few yards from the water’s edge,
 
but elevated considerably above it, and commanding
 
an extensive view of the river. The winding
 
path leading to it is over a wide and barren com-
 
mon—there are no houses in the vicinity—and it
 
will be long before it will be in the midst of the
 
city. Had the churchyards of New-York been laid
 
out with the same precaution, they would not now
 
have formed a subject of legislation for the Common
 
Council, nor for newspaper discussion. This
 
grave-yard contains an area of two or three acres,  
 
enclosed by a plain wooden fence, and sprinkled
 
with copses of native cedar, stinted in their growth
 
and many of them withered, either from the
 
poverty of the soil, or from having their roots broken
 
by the spade of the grave-digger. There are
 
however, enough living to conceal many of the
 
graves; and their verdure, contrasted with the grey
 
tomb stones produces an agreeable effect.
 
  
Anonymous, 29 September 1825, describing in
+
: “[At a meeting of the vestry] a letter from E. S. Garden & B. Bamfield (persons of Colour) were presented . . . wishing to know whether the Vestry would permit their remains to be interred in the '''Cemetery''' of the Church at some future day.”
the St. Philip’s Parish Vestry Book meeting resolutions
 
made in Charleston, S.C. (Colonial
 
Williamsburg Foundation; hereafter CWF)  
 
  
“That social feeling & sense of propriety which
 
induce the Vestry to keep their Cemetery neat &
 
private, require them also to consult appearances,
 
even in such solemn matters as the burial of
 
Memorials of the dead, for the inscriptions perish
 
long before the wood itself & then unseemly
 
Appearances is a sufficient reason for excluding
 
them. . . .
 
  
“The practice of appropriating certain portions
+
Fessenden, Thomas Green, 25 January 1823, “National Burying Ground” (''New England Farmer'' 1: 206)
of the Church yard as Family burial
 
grounds, by means of Vaults and palings, seems to
 
be of very ancient date & probably was almost
 
  
with the use of the church. In order to abolish
+
: “This '''cemetery''' is in a remote and lonely situation, being something more than a mile in a southeasterly direction from the Capitol. It lies immediately upon the bank of East Branch, at the distance of only a few yards from the water’s edge, but elevated considerably above it, and commanding an extensive [[view]] of the river. The winding path leading to it is over a wide and barren [[common]]—there are no houses in the vicinity—and it will be long before it will be in the midst of the . Had the [[churchyard]]s of New-York been laid out with the same precaution, they would not now have formed a subject of legislation for the Common Council, nor for newspaper discussion. This grave-[[yard]] contains an area of two or three acres, enclosed by a plain wooden [[fence]], and sprinkled with copses of native cedar, stinted in their growth and many of them withered, either from the poverty of the soil, or from having their roots broken by the spade of the grave-digger. There are however, enough living to conceal many of the graves; and their verdure, contrasted with the grey tomb stones produces an agreeable effect.
the latter mode the Vestry ordered on the 14th
 
October 1767 (that persons who had enclosures in
 
the church yard should not be allowed to repair
 
them.) . . . On the 27th July 1800 the Vestry
 
resolved that should application be made for leave
 
to erect a Monument in the Churchyard, the
 
vestry shall only allow a tablet against the wall, or
 
a headstone not exceeding 4 1/2 feet in length-1
 
foot 10 inches in breadth and 3 1/2 inches in
 
thickness.
 
Story, Joseph, 24 September 1831, describing
 
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.
 
(pp. 16–17)
 
“A rural Cemetery seems to combine in itself
 
all the advantages, which can be proposed to gratify
 
human feelings, or tranquillize human fears; to
 
secure the best religious influences, and to cherish
 
all those associations, which cast a cheerful light
 
over the darkness of the grave.
 
“And what spot can be more appropriate than
 
this for such a purpose? Nature seems to point it
 
out with significant energy, as the favorite retirement
 
for the dead. There are around us all the varied
 
features of her beauty and grandeur—the
 
forest-crowned height; the abrupt acclivity; the
 
sheltered valley; the deep glen; the grassy glade;
 
and the silent grove. Here are the lofty oak, the
 
beech, that ‘wreaths its old fantastic roots so high,’
 
the rustling pine, and the drooping willow; —the
 
tree, that sheds its pale leaves with every autumn,
 
a fit emblem of our own transitory bloom; and the
 
evergreen, with its perennial shoots, instructing
 
us, that ‘the wintry blast of death kills not the buds
 
of virtue.’ Here is the thick shrubbery to protect
 
and conceal the new-made grave; and there is the
 
wild-flower creeping along the narrow path, and
 
planting its seeds in the upturned earth. All
 
around us there breathes a solemn calm, as if we
 
were in the bosom of a wilderness, broken only by
 
the breeze as it murmurs through the tops of the
 
forest, or by the notes of the warbler pouring forth
 
his matin or his evening song.”
 
Dearborn, H.A.S., 1832, describing Mount
 
Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in
 
Harris 1832: 63–65, 67–68)
 
“With the Experimental Garden it is recommended
 
to unite a Rural Cemetery; for the period
 
is not distant, when all the burial grounds within
 
the city will be closed, and others must be formed
 
in the country,—the primitive and only proper
 
location. There the dead may repose undisturbed,
 
through countless ages. There can be formed a
 
public place of sepulture, where monuments can
 
be erected to our illustrious men, whose remains,
 
thus far, have unfortunately been consigned to
 
obscure and isolated tombs, instead of being collected
 
within one common depository, where
 
their great deeds might be perpetuated and their
 
memories cherished by succeeding generations.
 
Though dead, they would be eternal admonitors
 
to the living,—teaching them the way which leads
 
to national glory and individual renown. . . .
 
  
“For the accommodation of the Garden of
 
Experiment and Cemetery, at least seventy acres
 
of land are deemed necessary; and in making the
 
selection of a site, it was very important that from
 
forty to fifty acres should be well or partially covered
 
with forest trees and shrubs, which could be
 
appropriated for the latter establishment; and that
 
it should present all possible varieties of soil, common
 
in the vicinity of Boston; be diversified by
 
hills, valleys, plains, brooks, and low meadows,
 
and bogs, so as to afford proper localities for every
 
kind of tree and plant, that will flourish in this climate;—
 
be near to some large stream or river; and
 
easy of access by land and water; but still sufficiently
 
retired.
 
“To realize these advantages it is proposed,
 
that a tract of land called ‘Sweet Auburn,’ situated
 
in Cambridge, should be purchased. As a large
 
portion of the ground is now covered with trees,
 
shrubs, and wild flowering plants, avenues and
 
walks may be made through them, in such a manner
 
as to render the whole establishment interesting
 
and beautiful, at a small expense, and within a
 
few years; and ultimately offer an example of landscape
 
or picturesque gardening, in conformity to
 
the modern style of laying out grounds, which will
 
be highly creditable to the Society. . . .
 
“The establishment of rural cemeteries similar
 
to that of Pere La Chaise, has often been the subject
 
of conversation in this country, and frequently
 
adverted to by the writers in our scientific
 
and literary publications. . . .
 
“That part of the land which has been recommended
 
for a Cemetery may be circumvallated by
 
a spacious avenue, bordered by trees, shrubbery,
 
and perennial flowers; rather as a line of demarcation
 
than of disconnexion; for the ornamental
 
grounds of the Garden should be apparently
 
blended with those of the Cemetery, and the
 
walks of each so intercommunicate as to afford an
 
uninterrupted range over both, as one common
 
domain.
 
“Among the hills, glades, and dales, which are
 
now covered with evergreen and deciduous trees
 
and shrubs, may be selected sites for isolated
 
graves, and tombs, and these, being surmounted
 
with columns, obelisks, and other appropriate
 
monuments of granite and marble, may be rendered
 
interesting specimens of art; they will also
 
vary and embelish the scenery embraced within
 
the scope of the numerous sinuous avenues,
 
which may be felicitously opened in all directions
 
and to a vast extent, from the diversified and picturesque
 
features which the topography of the
 
tract of land presents.”
 
Martineau, Harriet, 1834, describing a cemetery
 
in New Orleans, La. (1838: 2:228–29)
 
“Before visiting Mount Auburn I had seen the
 
Catholic cemetery at New-Orleans, and the contrast
 
was remarkable enough. I never saw a city
 
churchyard, however damp and neglected, so
 
dreary as the New-Orleans cemetery. It lies in the
 
swamp, glaring with its plastered monuments in
 
the sun, with no shade but from the tombs. Being
 
necessarily drained, it is intersected by ditches of
 
weedy stagnant water, alive with frogs, dragonflies,
 
and moscheto-hawks [sic]. Irish, French, and
 
Spanish are all crowded together, as if the ground
 
could scarcely be opened fast enough for those
 
whom the fever lays low; an impression confirmed
 
by a glance at the dates. The tombs of the Irish
 
have inscriptions which provoke a kind of smile,
 
which is no pleasure in such a place. Those of
 
nuns bear no inscription but the monastic
 
name—Agathe, Seraphine, Thérèse—and the date
 
of death. Wooden crosses, warped in the sun or
 
rotting with the damp, are in some places standing
 
at the heads of graves, in others are leaning or
 
fallen. Glass boxes, containing artificial flowers
 
and tied with faded ribands, stand at the foot of
 
some of these crosses. Elsewhere we saw pitchers
 
with bouquets of natural flowers, the water dried
 
up and the blossoms withered. One enclosure surrounding
 
a monument was adorned with cypress,
 
arbour vitae, roses, and honeysuckles, and this was
 
a relief to the eye while the feet were treading the
 
hot dusty walks or the parched grass. The first
 
principle of a cemetery was here violated, necessarily,
 
no doubt, but by a sad necessity. The first
 
principle of a cemetery—beyond the obligation of
 
its being made safe and wholesome—is that it
 
should be cheerful in its aspect.”
 
B., J., 1 October 1836, “Horticulture in Maine,”
 
describing Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Maine
 
(Horticultural Register 2: 386)
 
“Mount Hope cemetery is in imitation of
 
Mount Auburn, and was consecrated the present
 
season. It contains thirteen acres mostly on a
 
steep, conical hill, ornamented by nature with
 
evergreen and other trees. The avenues and walks
 
have been laid out under the direction of Dr
 
Barstow and are either completed or in a state of
 
forwardness. At the foot of the hill is a small run
 
or brook, across which a dam has been built and a
 
pond raised. Passing thus by a neat bridge, we
 
enter another lot of ten acres, which has been purchased
 
by the city for a public burial ground, and
 
the whole is about to be inclosed by a substantial
 
fence in one piece.”
 
Adams, Rev. Nehemiah, 1838, describing Copp’s
 
Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Mass. ([Adams]
 
1838: 24)
 
“And were it not for the fact, that cemeteries
 
are very injudiciously allowed in cities, we should
 
advert with pleasure to the walks afforded by the
 
Copp’s Hill burying-ground—wanting only a
 
grove of ancient trees to render it delightful.”
 
Anonymous, 1839, describing Mount Auburn
 
Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (The Picturesque
 
Pocket Companion, and Visitors’ Guide through
 
Mount Auburn, 1839: 3)
 
“The celebrity attained by Mount Auburn,
 
pronounced by European travellers the most
 
beautiful Cemetery in existence, and which, perhaps,
 
without assuming too much, may be called
 
the Père la Chaise of America,—the extraordinary
 
  
natural loveliness of the spot,—the admirable
+
* Anonymous, 29 September 1825, describing in the ''St. Philip’s Parish Vestry Book'' meeting resolutions made in Charleston, S.C. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; hereafter CWF)
character of the establishment which is there
 
maintained,—the fact that this was the first conspicuous
 
example of the kind in our country.
 
  
Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 1840, describing
+
: “That social feeling & sense of propriety which induce the Vestry to keep their '''Cemetery''' neat & private, require them also to consult appearances, even in such solemn matters as the burial of Memorials of the dead, for the inscriptions perish long before the wood itself & then unseemly Appearances is a sufficient reason for excluding them. . . .
New Haven Burying Ground, New Haven, Conn.  
+
: “The practice of appropriating certain portions of the Church [[yard]] as Family burial grounds, by means of Vaults and palings, seems to be of very ancient date & probably was almost with the use of the church. In order to abolish the latter mode the Vestry ordered on the 14th October 1767 (that persons who had enclosures in the church [[yard]] should not be allowed to repair them.) . . . On the 27th July 1800 the Vestry resolved that should application be made for leave to erect a Monument in the Churchyard, the vestry shall only allow a tablet against the wall, or a headstone not exceeding 4 1/2 feet in length-1 foot 10 inches in breadth and 3 1/2 inches in thickness.”
(1971: 220)  
 
  
“To the enterprise of the same public-spirited
 
gentleman [Honorable James Hillhouse], New
 
Haven owes one of the most beautiful cemeteries
 
in the world. The square in the rear of the
 
churches was formerly, according to the English
 
custom, used as a churchyard, and encumbered
 
with graves, which soon threatened to overrun its
 
limits. Mr. Hillhouse, some years since, purchased
 
a field in the western skirt of the town, laid it out
 
and planted it, and subsequently removed to it all
 
the tombstones and remains from the Green;
 
among them the headstone of the regicide Goffe.
 
It is now one of the most beautiful of burial-
 
places. The monuments are of white marble, or of
 
a very rich verd antique found in the neighbourhood;
 
and the natural elegance of the place has
 
induced a taste and elegance into these monuments
 
for the dead, found in no other spot of the
 
same character.”
 
  
Buckingham, James Silk, 1841, describing  
+
* Story, Joseph, 24 September 1831, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.(pp. 16–17)
Rochester, N.Y. (2:215)  
 
  
“A large piece of ground on the east of the  
+
: “A rural '''Cemetery''' seems to combine in itself all the advantages, which can be proposed to gratify human feelings, or tranquillize human fears; to secure the best religious influences, and to cherish all those associations, which cast a cheerful light over the darkness of the grave.
river and south of the city, seated on a pleasing
+
: “And what spot can be more appropriate than this for such a purpose? Nature seems to point it out with significant energy, as the favorite retirement for the dead. There are around us all the varied features of her beauty and grandeur—the forest-crowned height; the abrupt acclivity; the sheltered valley; the deep glen; the grassy glade; and the silent [[grove]]. Here are the lofty oak, the beech, that ‘wreaths its old fantastic roots so high,’ the rustling pine, and the drooping willow; —the tree, that sheds its pale leaves with every autumn,a fit emblem of our own transitory bloom; and the evergreen, with its perennial shoots, instructing us, that ‘the wintry blast of death kills not the buds of virtue.’ Here is the thick [[shrubbery]] to protect and conceal the new-made grave; and there is the wild-flower creeping along the narrow path, and planting its seeds in the upturned earth. All around us there breathes a solemn calm, as if we were in the bosom of a wilderness, broken only by the breeze as it murmurs through the tops of the forest, or by the notes of the warbler pouring forth his matin or his evening song.”
eminence, has also been recently devoted to the  
 
purpose of a public cemetery, to supersede all the  
 
smaller ones; and the intention is to plant it with
 
ornamental shrubs and lay it out in walks, so as to
 
make it as agreeable as Laurel Hill at Philadelphia,  
 
or Mount Auburn at Boston.”  
 
  
Buckingham, James Silk, 1841, describing Mount
 
Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (2:382)
 
  
“A comparison has been often made between
+
* Dearborn, H.A.S., 1832, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Harris 1832: 63–65, 67–68)
the Père la Chaise of Paris and the Mount Auburn
 
of Boston, and the similarity of their situation
 
and their purpose naturally forces this comparison
 
on the mind. Having seen both, I may venture
 
to offer an opinion on this subject, with great
 
deference, however, to those who may think otherwise.  
 
In many respects, then, I think Mount  
 
Auburn superior to Père la Chaise. Its natural
 
scenery of hill and dale, of river, lake, and forest-
 
trees, with other surrounding objects, presents a
 
combination which is not to be found in the
 
c e m e t e r y of Paris, and which is far more in harmony
 
with the repose of the dead than the most
 
sumptuous monuments, without these combinations,  
 
can be. In this last respect Père la Chaise is
 
perhaps unrivalled.”
 
  
Buckingham, James Silk, 1842, describing Wythe
+
: “With the Experimental Garden it is recommended to unite a Rural '''Cemetery'''; for the period is not distant, when all the '''burial grounds''' within the city will be closed, and others must be formed in the country,—the primitive and only proper location. There the dead may repose undisturbed, through countless ages. There can be formed a public place of sepulture, where monuments can be erected to our illustrious men, whose remains, thus far, have unfortunately been consigned too obscure and isolated tombs, instead of being collected within one common depository, where their great deeds might be perpetuated and their memories cherished by succeeding generations.Though dead, they would be eternal admonitors to the living,—teaching them the way which leads to national glory and individual renown. . . .
County, Va. (CWF)
+
: “For the accommodation of the Garden of Experiment and '''Cemetery''', at least seventy acres of land are deemed necessary; and in making the selection of a site, it was very important that from forty to fifty acres should be well or partially covered with forest trees and shrubs, which could be appropriated for the latter establishment; and that it should present all possible varieties of soil, common in the vicinity of Boston; be diversified by hills, valleys, plains, brooks, and low [[meadow]]s and bogs, so as to afford proper localities for every kind of tree and plant, that will flourish in this climate;—be near to some large stream or river; and easy of access by land and water; but still sufficiently retired.
 +
: “To realize these advantages it is proposed, that a tract of land called ‘Sweet Auburn,’ situated in Cambridge, should be purchased. As a large portion of the ground is now covered with trees, shrubs, and wild flowering plants, [[avenue]]s and [[walk]]s may be made through them, in such a manner as to render the whole establishment interesting and beautiful, at a small expense, and within a few years; and ultimately offer an example of [[Landscape_gardening|landscape]] or [[picturesque]] gardening, in conformity to the [[modern style]] of laying out grounds, which will be highly creditable to the Society. . . .
 +
: “The establishment of rural '''cemeteries''' similar to that of Pere La Chaise, has often been the subject of conversation in this country, and frequently adverted to by the writers in our scientific and literary publications. . . .
 +
: “That part of the land which has been recommended for a '''Cemetery''' may be circumvallated by a spacious [[avenue]] bordered by trees, [[shrubbery]], and perennial flowers; rather as a line of demarcation than of disconnexion; for the ornamental grounds of the Garden should be apparently blended with those of the '''Cemetery''', and the [[walk]]s of each so intercommunicate as to afford an uninterrupted range over both, as one common domain.
 +
: “Among the hills, glades, and dales, which are now covered with evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, may be selected sites for isolated graves, and tombs, and these, being surmounted with [[column]]s, [[obelisk]]s, and other appropriate monuments of granite and marble, may be rendered interesting specimens of art; they will also vary and embelish the scenery embraced within the scope of the numerous sinuous [[avenue]]s, which may be felicitously opened in all directions and to a vast extent, from the diversified and [[picturesque]] features which the topography of the tract of land presents.
  
“Soon after our setting out, we observed in the
 
fields a large sycamore-tree, with wide-spreading
 
branches, enclosed with a neat palisade, and was
 
  
told that this was a very usual way of forming a  
+
* Martineau, Harriet, 1834, describing a cemetery in New Orleans, La. (1838: 2:228–29)
rustic cemetery, which was confirmed by our seeing
 
several graves within the enclosure.
 
  
W. [pseud.], February 1842, “An Account of the  
+
: “Before visiting Mount Auburn I had seen the Catholic '''cemetery''' at New-Orleans, and the contrast was remarkable enough. I never saw a city [[churchyard]], however damp and neglected, so dreary as the New-Orleans '''cemetery'''. It lies in the swamp, glaring with its plastered monuments in the sun, with no shade but from the tombs. Being necessarily drained, it is intersected by ditches of weedy stagnant water, alive with frogs, dragonflies, and moscheto-hawks [''sic'']. Irish, French, and Spanish are all crowded together, as if the ground could scarcely be opened fast enough for those whom the fever lays low; an impression confirmed by a glance at the dates. The tombs of the Irish have inscriptions which provoke a kind of smile, which is no pleasure in such a place. Those of nuns bear no inscription but the monastic name—Agathe, Seraphine, Thérèse—and the date of death. Wooden crosses, warped in the sun or rotting with the damp, are in some places standing at the heads of graves, in others are leaning or fallen. Glass boxes, containing artificial flowers and tied with faded ribands, stand at the foot of some of these crosses. Elsewhere we saw pitchers with bouquets of natural flowers, the water dried up and the blossoms withered. One enclosure surrounding a monument was adorned with cypress, [[arbour]] vitae, roses, and honeysuckles, and this was a relief to the eye while the feet were treading the hot dusty [[walk]]s or the parched grass. The first principle of a '''cemetery''' was here violated, necessarily, no doubt, but by a sad necessity. The first principle of a '''cemetery'''—beyond the obligation of its being made safe and wholesome—is that it should be cheerful in its aspect.
Lowell Cemetery,” Lowell, Mass. (Magazine of  
 
Horticulture 8: 47–48)
 
“The Lowell Cemetery contains an area of  
 
about forty-four acres of land, retired, and pleasantly
 
situated on the southern slope of ‘Fort Hill,
 
and at the distance of about three quarters of a  
 
mile from the city, and a mile and half from the  
 
City Hall. The surface of the ground is beautifully
 
diversified with hill and valley. . . .  
 
  
“With such variety of surface, this ground possesses
 
a high degree of adaptation as a place of
 
sepulture; and ornamented both by nature and
 
art, this cemetery must have attractions for the
 
most unobserving and the least reflecting. There
 
are many historical associations connected with
 
this spot, and its former, but now long deceased,
 
occupants.”
 
  
Bryant, William Cullen, 7 April 1843, describing  
+
* B., J., 1 October 1836, “Horticulture in Maine,describing Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Maine (''Horticultural Register'' 2: 386)
Savannah, Ga. (quoted in Clarke 1993: 2:155)  
 
  
“In the same neighborhood [south of the
+
: “Mount Hope '''cemetery''' is in imitation of Mount Auburn, and was consecrated the present season. It contains thirteen acres mostly on a steep, conical hill, ornamented by nature with evergreen and other trees. The [[avenue]]s and [[walk]]s have been laid out under the direction of Dr Barstow and are either completed or in a state of forwardness. At the foot of the hill is a small run or brook, across which a dam has been built and a pond raised. Passing thus by a neat bridge, we enter another lot of ten acres, which has been purchased by the city for a public '''burial ground''', and the whole is about to be inclosed by a substantial [[fence]] in one piece.”
town], just without the town, lies the public cemetery,  
 
surrounded by an ancient wall, built before
 
the Revolution, which in some places shows the  
 
marks of shot fired against it in the skirmishes of  
 
that period. . . . At a little distance, near a forest,
 
lies the burial-place of the black population. A few
 
trees, trailing with long moss, rise above hundreds
 
of nameless graves, overgrown with weeds; but
 
here and there are scattered memorials of the  
 
dead, some of a very humble kind, with a few of
 
marble, and half a dozen spacious brick tombs like
 
those in the cemetery of the whites.”  
 
  
Tuthill, Louisa C., 1848, describing Greenwood
 
Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. ([1848] 1988: 337)
 
  
“Greenwood Cemetery near New York, is
+
* Adams, Rev. Nehemiah, 1838, describing Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Mass. ([Adams] 1838: 24)
beautifully situated, and contains many magnificent
 
monuments.[Fig. 8]  
 
  
Tuthill, Louisa C., 1848, describing Laurel Hill  
+
: “And were it not for the fact, that '''cemeteries''' are very injudiciously allowed in cities, we should advert with pleasure to the [[walk]]s afforded by the Copp’s Hill '''burying-ground'''—wanting only a [[grove]] of ancient trees to render it delightful.”
Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa. ([1848] 1988: 337–38)
 
  
“Laurel Hill, on the banks of the Schuylkill, is
 
another rural cemetery, consecrated to the repose
 
of the dead, by the citizens of Philadelphia. ‘Every
 
mind capable of appreciating the beautiful in
 
nature, must admire its gentle declivities, its
 
expansive lawns, its hill beetling over the picturesque
 
stream, its rugged ascents, its flowery dells,
 
its rocky ravines, and its river-washed borders.’”
 
  
Downing, A. J., July 1849, “Public Cemeteries
+
* Anonymous, 1839, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (''The Picturesque Pocket Companion, and Visitors’ Guide through Mount Auburn'', 1839: 3)
and Public Gardens” (Horticulturist 4: 9–10)  
 
  
“The great attraction of these cemeteries, to
+
: “The celebrity attained by Mount Auburn, pronounced by European travellers the most beautiful '''Cemetery''' in existence, and which, perhaps, without assuming too much, may be called the ''Père la Chaise'' of America,—the extraordinary natural loveliness of the spot,—the admirable character of the establishment which is there maintained,—the fact that this was the first conspicuous example of the kind in our country.
the mass of the community, is not in the fact that  
 
they are burial places, or solemn places of meditation
 
for the friends of the deceased, or striking
 
exhibitions of monumental sculpture, though all
 
these have their influence. All these might be realized
 
in a burial ground, planted with straight lines
 
  
of willows, and sombre avenues of evergreens. The
 
true secret of the attraction lies in the natural
 
beauty of the sites, and in the tasteful and harmonious
 
embellishment of these sites by art. Nearly
 
all these cemeteries were rich portions of forest
 
land, broken by hill and dale, and varied by copses
 
and glades, like Mount Auburn and Greenwood,
 
or old country seats, richly wooded with fine
 
planted trees, like Laurel Hill. Hence, to the
 
inhabitant of the town, a visit to one of these spots
 
has the united charm of nature and art,—the double
 
wealth of rural and moral associations. It
 
awakens, at the same moment, the feeling of
 
human sympathy and the love of natural beauty,
 
implanted in every heart. His must be a dull or a
 
trifling soul that neither swells with emotion, or
 
rises with admiration, at the varied beauty of these
 
lovely and hallowed spots.
 
  
“Indeed, in the absence of great public gardens,  
+
* Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 1840, describing New Haven Burying Ground, New Haven, Conn. (1971: 220)
such as we must surely one day have in
 
America, our rural cemeteries are doing a great
 
deal to enlarge and educate the popular taste in
 
rural embellishment. They are for the most part
 
laid out with admirable taste; they contain the
 
greatest variety of trees and shrubs to be found in
 
the country, and several of them are kept in a
 
manner seldom equalled in private places. . . .  
 
  
“The character of each of the three great cemeteries  
+
: “To the enterprise of the same public-spirited gentleman [Honorable James Hillhouse], New Haven owes one of the most beautiful '''cemeteries''' in the world. The [[square]] in the rear of the churches was formerly, according to the English custom, used as a [[churchyard]], and encumbered with graves, which soon threatened to overrun its limits. Mr. Hillhouse, some years since, purchased a field in the western skirt of the town, laid it out and planted it, and subsequently removed to it all the tombstones and remains from the [[Green]]; among them the headstone of the regicide Goffe. It is now one of the most beautiful of '''burial-places'''. The monuments are of white marble, or of a very rich ''verd antique'' found in the neighbourhood; and the natural elegance of the place has induced a taste and elegance into these monuments for the dead, found in no other spot of the same character.”  
is essentially distinct. Greenwood, the  
 
largest, and unquestionably the finest, is grand,  
 
dignified, and park-like. It is laid out in a broad
 
and simple style, commands noble ocean views,  
 
and is admirably kept. Mount Auburn is richly picturesque,  
 
in its varied hill and dale, and owes its
 
charm mainly to this variety and intricacy of sylvan
 
features. Laurel Hill is a charming pleasure-
 
ground, filled with beautiful and rare shrubs and  
 
flowers; at this season, a wilderness of roses, as
 
well as fine trees and monuments.” [Fig. 9]
 
  
Loudon, J. C., 1850, describing cemeteries in
 
  
America (p. 333)  
+
* Buckingham, James Silk, 1841, describing Rochester, N.Y. (2:215)  
  
“857. Cemeteries....  
+
: “A large piece of ground on the east of the river and south of the city, seated on a pleasing [[eminence]], has also been recently devoted to the purpose of a public '''cemetery''', to supersede all the smaller ones; and the intention is to plant it with ornamental shrubs and lay it out in [[walk]]s, so as to make it as agreeable as Laurel Hill at Philadelphia, or Mount Auburn at Boston.
  
“A public cemetery was formed in 1831 at
 
Mount Auburn, about three miles from Boston,
 
and is easily approached either by the road, or the
 
river which washes its borders. . . . ‘This romantic
 
and picturesque cemetery,’ says Dr. Mease, ‘is the
 
fashionable place of interment with the people of
 
Boston.’ . . .
 
  
“Cemeteries at Philadelphia. ‘Laurel Hill is
+
* Buckingham, James Silk, 1841, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (2:382)  
about three miles and a half north of the city, on
 
the river Schuylkill. The part devoted to interments
 
embraces about twenty acres, and is laid
 
out in the most tasteful manner. The entrance is a
 
specimen of Doric architecture, through which is
 
a pleasing vista, and on each side are lodges for the
 
accommodation of the gravedigger and gardener;
 
and within is a neat cottage for the superintendent,  
 
a Gothic chapel for funeral service, a large
 
dwelling-house for visiters [sic], a handsome
 
receiving tomb, stabling for forty carriages, and a
 
greenhouse. Besides the native forest trees on the
 
place, several hundred more, and many ornamental
 
shrubs, have been planted. The lots are
 
enclosed by iron railings.’ . . . (Dr. Mease in the
 
Gard. Mag., for 1843, p. 666.) . . .
 
  
“The cemetery of the Episcopal church of the  
+
: “A comparison has been often made between the Père la Chaise of Paris and the Mount Auburn of Boston, and the similarity of their situation and their purpose naturally forces this comparison on the mind. Having seen both, I may venture to offer an opinion on this subject, with great deference, however, to those who may think otherwise. In many respects, then, I think Mount Auburn superior to Père la Chaise. Its natural scenery of hill and dale, of river, lake, and forest-trees, with other surrounding objects, presents a combination which is not to be found in the '''cemetery''' of Paris, and which is far more in harmony with the repose of the dead than the most sumptuous monuments, without these combinations, can be. In this last respect Père la Chaise is perhaps unrivalled.”  
town of Guildford is in a public square, and uninclosed.
 
The graves are, therefore, trampled upon,  
 
and the monuments injured, both by men and
 
cattle.”  
 
  
Anonymous, 13 May 1850, describing in the St.
 
Stephen’s Parish Vestry Book the preservation of
 
burial grounds in Berkeley County, S.C. (CWF)
 
  
“7th Resolved that out of the first money  
+
* Buckingham, James Silk, 1842, describing Wythe County, Va. (CWF)
accruing from the interest of the church fund or  
+
 
from the benevolence of Individual Donors, it  
+
: “Soon after our setting out, we observed in the fields a large sycamore-tree, with wide-spreading branches, enclosed with a neat palisade, and was told that this was a very usual way of forming a [[Rustic_style|rustic]] '''cemetery''', which was confirmed by our seeing several graves within the enclosure.”
shall be the duty of the Trustees then in office to  
+
 
enclose the church and all the ground about it for  
+
 
the purpose of a Public Burying yard with a wide  
+
* W. [pseud.], February 1842, “An Account of the Lowell Cemetery,” Lowell, Mass. (''Magazine of Horticulture'' 8: 47–48)
& deep ditch & a high and well-formed embankment  
+
 
on three sides of the Church, leaving the side  
+
: “The Lowell '''Cemetery''' contains an area of about forty-four acres of land, retired, and pleasantly situated on the southern [[slope]] of ‘Fort Hill,’
bounding on the public river road open and free  
+
and at the distance of about three quarters of a mile from the city, and a mile and half from the City Hall. The surface of the ground is beautifully diversified with hill and valley. . . .
of access to the public, and such cemetery shall  
+
: “With such variety of surface, this ground possesses a high degree of adaptation as a place of sepulture; and ornamented both by nature and art, this '''cemetery''' must have attractions for the most unobserving and the least reflecting. There are many historical associations connected with this spot, and its former, but now long deceased, occupants.”
always be free to the uses of such persons as may  
+
 
desire to use it for that purpose, &c.”
+
 
 +
* Bryant, William Cullen, 7 April 1843, describing Savannah, Ga. (quoted in Clarke 1993: 2:155)
 +
 
 +
: “In the same neighborhood [south of the town], just without the town, lies the public '''cemetery''', surrounded by an ancient [[wall]], built before the Revolution, which in some places shows the marks of shot fired against it in the skirmishes of that period. . . . At a little distance, near a forest, lies the burial-place of the black population. A few trees, trailing with long moss, rise above hundreds of nameless graves, overgrown with weeds; but here and there are scattered memorials of the dead, some of a very humble kind, with a few of marble, and half a dozen spacious brick tombs like those in the '''cemetery''' of the whites.”
 +
 
 +
 
 +
* Tuthill, Louisa C., 1848, describing Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. ([1848] 1988: 337)
 +
 
 +
: “Greenwood '''Cemetery''' near New York, is beautifully situated, and contains many magnificent monuments.” [Fig. 8]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
* Tuthill, Louisa C., 1848, describing Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa. ([1848] 1988: 337–38)
 +
 
 +
: “Laurel Hill, on the banks of the Schuylkill, is another rural '''cemetery''', consecrated to the repose of the dead, by the citizens of Philadelphia. ‘Every mind capable of appreciating the beautiful in nature, must admire its gentle declivities, its expansive [[lawn]]s, its hill beetling over the [[picturesque]] stream, its rugged ascents, its flowery dells, its rocky ravines, and its river-washed [[border]]s.’”
 +
 
 +
 
 +
* [[Downing, A. J.]], July 1849, “Public Cemeteries and Public Gardens” (''Horticulturist'' 4: 9–10)
 +
 
 +
: “The great attraction of these '''cemeteries''', to the mass of the community, is not in the fact that they are burial places, or solemn places of meditation for the friends of the deceased, or striking exhibitions of monumental sculpture, though all these have their influence. All these might be realized in a '''burial ground''', planted with straight lines of willows, and sombre avenues of evergreens. The true secret of the attraction lies in the natural beauty of the sites, and in the tasteful and harmonious embellishment of these sites by art. Nearly all these '''cemeteries''' were rich portions of forest land, broken by hill and dale, and varied by [[copse]]s and glades, like Mount Auburn and Greenwood, or old country [[seat]]s, richly wooded with fine planted trees, like Laurel Hill. Hence, to the inhabitant of the town, a visit to one of these spots has the united charm of nature and art,—the double wealth of rural and moral associations. It awakens, at the same moment, the feeling of human sympathy and the love of natural beauty, implanted in every heart. His must be a dull or a trifling soul that neither swells with emotion, or rises with admiration, at the varied beauty of these lovely and hallowed spots.
 +
: “Indeed, in the absence of great [[public garden]]s, such as we must surely one day have in America, our rural '''cemeteries''' are doing a great deal to enlarge and educate the popular taste in rural embellishment. They are for the most part laid out with admirable taste; they contain the greatest variety of trees and shrubs to be found in the country, and several of them are kept in a manner seldom equalled in private places. . . .
 +
: “The character of each of the three great '''cemeteries''' is essentially distinct. ''Greenwood'', the largest, and unquestionably the finest, is grand, dignified, and [[park]]-like. It is laid out in a broad and simple style, commands noble ocean [[view]]s, and is admirably kept. ''Mount Auburn'' is richly [[picturesque]], in its varied hill and dale, and owes its charm mainly to this variety and intricacy of sylvan features. ''Laurel Hill'' is a charming [[pleasure-ground]], filled with beautiful and rare shrubs and flowers; at this season, a wilderness of roses, as well as fine trees and monuments.” [Fig. 9]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
* [[Loudon, J. C.]], 1850, describing cemeteries in America (p. 333)
 +
 
 +
: “857. '''''Cemeteries'''''....
 +
: “''A public '''cemetery''''' was formed in 1831 at Mount Auburn, about three miles from Boston, and is easily approached either by the road, or the river which washes its [[border]]s. . . . ‘This romantic and [[picturesque]] '''cemetery''',’ says Dr. Mease, ‘is the fashionable place of interment with the people of Boston.’ . . .
 +
: “''Cemeteries at Philadelphia''. ‘Laurel Hill is about three miles and a half north of the city, on the river Schuylkill. The part devoted to interments embraces about twenty acres, and is laid out in the most tasteful manner. The entrance is a specimen of Doric architecture, through which is a pleasing [[vista]], and on each side are lodges for the accommodation of the gravedigger and gardener; and within is a neat cottage for the superintendent, a Gothic chapel for funeral service, a large dwelling-house for visiters ''[sic''], a handsome receiving tomb, stabling for forty carriages, and a [[greenhouse]]. Besides the native forest trees on the place, several hundred more, and many ornamental shrubs, have been planted. The lots are enclosed by iron railings.’ . . . (''Dr. Mease in the Gard. Mag.'', for 1843, p. 666.) . . .
 +
: “''The '''cemetery''' of the Episcopal church of the town of Guildford'' is in a public [[square]], and uninclosed. The graves are, therefore, trampled upon, and the monuments injured, both by men and cattle.”
 +
 
 +
 
 +
* Anonymous, 13 May 1850, describing in the ''St. Stephen’s Parish Vestry Book'' the preservation of burial grounds in Berkeley County, S.C. (CWF)
 +
 
 +
: “7th Resolved that out of the first money accruing from the interest of the church fund or from the benevolence of Individual Donors, it shall be the duty of the Trustees then in office to enclose the church and all the ground about it for the purpose of a Public Burying [[yard]] with a wide & deep ditch & a high and well-formed embankment on three sides of the Church, leaving the side bounding on the public river road open and free of access to the public, and such '''cemetery''' shall always be free to the uses of such persons as may desire to use it for that purpose, &c.”
  
 
===Citations===
 
===Citations===

Revision as of 19:08, April 18, 2016

History

In the late eighteenth century, three primary types of burial places existed: land adjoining a church (often termed the “churchyard,” but also called a cemetery or burial ground) [Fig. 1], the family plot at one’s home (the burying ground), and public space that was unaffiliated with any specific denomination. [1] This latter type was also denoted as a “burying ground” but most commonly was labeled as a cemetery. [2] Initially located in central urban areas such as commons, by the nineteenth century public burial grounds were increasingly located in suburban precincts. As late as 1724 (and perhaps long after) New Englanders “valued graveyards more as meadows than as sacred spaces,” and, in the public’s mind, graveyards were regarded as “common, if not hallowed ground,” according to historian David Charles Sloane. [3] The word “cemetery,” which “derived from the Greek word for ‘dormitory’ and implied that death was but a tranquil sleep,” reflected the increasing sentimentalization of death and the Protestant theological shift from punitive to redemptive interpretations of death. [4] Notably, the terms “burying ground” and “churchyard” were not completely phased out with the introduction of rural cemeteries and continued to be used interchangeably. [5] Although the term “cemetery” was often associated with rural park-like spaces, it also referred to enclosed burial grounds, such as the one described in 1796 by Timothy Dwight in New Haven, Conn.

The New Haven Burying Ground, as it was originally named, was one of the earliest burial places to be located out side the main commercial district of a town [Fi g. 2]. Concerns about public health stemming from overcrowded urban burial places, the development of romantic discourse on the emotional impact of natural scenery, and anxieties about appropriate veneration of the dead resulted in a movement to relocate burial grounds from congested urban sites to more rural settings. [6] Observers of the New Haven Burying Ground, including Dwight , praised the proprietors for their orderly and well laid out grounds based upon a geometric plan, with each fenced lot fashioned in the shape of a parallelogram. The division of the landscape was carried over into the placement of the city’s various populations — the poor, Yale affiliates, strangers, and “negroes” — into clearly defined, separate spaces. As such, New Haven Burying Ground became a model for other cities. Nevertheless, some writers, such as Rev. Nehemiah Adams (1842), continued to argue for the use of urban plots in the belief that the dead should be permitted to commune with the “joyous events” of the city.

The archetypal nineteenth-century burial ground, however, was Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass., founded in 1831 on the grounds of a former estate called “Sweet Auburn.” [7] The founders of the so-called rural cemetery originally envisioned combining an “experimental” or botanic garden with a burying ground. Given the precedent for a garden cemetery that was set by the famed Père Lachaise (founded in Paris in 1804) and the influence of English landscape gardens upon botanic garden designs of this period, it is not surprising that the planners of Mount Auburn Cemetery desired a rural, naturalistic design. [8] They left much of the original grounds and vegetation intact and landscaped the grounds with the introduction of avenues, walks, and waterways [Figs. 3 and 4]. The boundaries of the cemetery were intended to blend into the grounds of the experimental garden through intermingled vegetation and meandering avenues. Throughout the grounds, picturesque views rewarded the visitor. Instead of the regimented landscape at the New Haven Burying Ground, Mount Auburn Cemetery embraced openness, created by the use of serpentine pathways and carefully placed vegetation, which could both screen and create vistas. The actual grave sites, however, were still bounded by iron railings to mark a zone of respect for the dead [Fig. 5].

Although the Mount Auburn Cemetery planners quickly were forced to discard their plans for an experimental garden, they fulfilled their vision of a rural, picturesque, park-like landscape. [9] It became the model for a number of subsequent cemeteries, such as Spring Grove Cemetery (Cincinnati), Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia), and Greenwood Cemetery (Brooklyn), and it earned the praise of such critics as A. J. Downing. [10] Even without the existence of a botanic garden, the superintendents of Mount Auburn Cemetery were able to lavish much attention on ornamental plantings. It is worth noting that extensive discussions about the ornamentation of burial places with plant material and other landscape features did not generally appear in treatise literature about the sites until the popularization of rural cemeteries in the nineteenth century.

As Downing pointed out in his 1849 essay “Public Cemeteries and Public Gardens,” Mount Auburn Cemetery also had “the double wealth of rural and moral associations . . . it awakens, at the same moment, the feeling of human sympathy and the love of natural beauty.” The rural setting, with its suggestions of the sublime, enhanced the experience of mourning for one’s loved ones. The space was also an educational tool, providing exemplary taste in planting arrangements, as well as a guide to American history through the monuments to “illustrious men,” as described by H.A.S. Dearborn (1832).

Burial monuments found on the grounds contributed to the emotional impact of Mount Auburn Cemetery’s “romantic” and “picturesque” scenery. Obelisks and other ancient style markers, for example, gave rise to associations with classical heroes (see Column). The entrance gates, executed in the Egyptian style, were associated with the notion that “eternity was evoked by the massive forms.” Such grand gateways were also found at the New Haven Burying Ground. [11]

By the time Downing wrote his 1849 essay about public cemeteries and gardens, Greenwood Cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Laurel Hill Cemetery had established a norm in cemetery design that influenced later designs [Figs. 6 and 7]. Although burial grounds did not require natural scenery to be effective places for “solemn meditation,” in Downing’s words, rural cemeteries fulfilled a vital niche in American life. They created rural pleasure grounds where Americans could witness the beauty of nature enhanced by art. In the absence of public gardens or parks, cemeteries were the next best thing—educating “the popular taste in rural embellishment.”

-- Anne L. Helmreich

Texts

Usage

  • Oldmixon, John, 1741, describing Charleston, S.C. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
“[An act established that Charleston was to] be a distinct Parish, by the Name of St. Philip’s in Charles-Town: And the Church and Cemetery of this Town were enacted to be the Parish Church and Church-yard of St. Philip’s in Charles-Town.”


  • Anonymous, 1 7 8 9 , describing in the Christ Church Parish Book plans for expanding the public cemetery in Savannah, Ga. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
“[Plans have been made] for enlarging the present Cemetery or Public Burial Ground.”


  • Dwight, Timothy, 1796, describing the New Haven Burying Ground, New Haven, Conn. (1821: 1:190–92)
“Indubitable proofs of the enterprise of the inhabitants are seen in the Institutions already mentioned. . . . Of these, levelling and enclosing the green, accomplished by subscription, at an expense of more than two thousand dollars, and the establishment of a new public cemetery, accomplished at a much greater expense, are particularly creditable to their spirit.
“The original settlers of New-Haven, following the custom of their native country, buried their dead in a Church-yard. Their Church was erected on the green, or public square; and the yard laid out immediately behind it in the North-Western half of the square. . . . It is always desirable, that a burial-ground should be a solemn object to man; because in this manner it easily becomes a source of useful instruction and desirable impressions. But, when placed in the centre of a town, and in the current of daily intercourse, it is rendered too familiar to the eye to have any beneficial effect on the heart. From its proper, venerable character, it is degraded into a mere common object; and speedily loses all its connection with the invisible world, in a gross and vulgar union with the ordinary business of life.
“Besides these disadvantages, this ground was filled with coffins, and monuments, and must either be extended farther over the beautiful tract, unhappily chosen for it, or must have its place supplied by a substitute. To accomplish these purposes, and to effectuate a removal of the numerous monuments of the dead, already erected, whenever the consent of their survivors could be obtained; the Honourable James Hillhouse, one of the inhabitants, to whom the town, the State, and the country, owe more than to almost any of their citizens, in the year 1796, purchased, near the North-Western corner of the original town, a field of ten acres; which, aided by several respectable Gentlemen, he levelled, and enclosed. The field was then divided into parallelograms, handsomely railed, and separated by alleys of sufficient breadth to permit carriages to pass each other. . . . Each parallelogram is sixty-four feet in breadth, and thirty-five feet in length. Each family burying-ground is thirty-two feet in length and eighteen in breadth: and against each an opening is made to admit a funeral procession. At the divisions between the lots trees are set out in the alleys: and the name of each proprietor is marked on the railing. The monuments in this ground are almost universally of marble; in a few instances from Italy; in the rest, found in this and neighbouring States. A considerable number are obelisks; others are tables; and others, slabs, placed at the head and foot of the grave. The obelisks are placed, universally, on the middle line of the lots; and thus stand in a line, successively, through the parallelograms. The top of each post, and the railing, are painted white; the remainder of the post, black. . . .
“It is believed, that this cemetery is altogether a singularity in the world. I have accompanied many Americans, and many Foreigners, into it; not one of whom had ever seen, or heard, of any thing [sic], of a similar nature. It is incomparably more solemn and impressive than any spot, of the same kind, within my knowledge; and, if I am to credit the declarations of others, within theirs. An exquisite taste for propriety is discovered, in every thing belonging to it; exhibiting a regard for the dead, reverential, but not ostentatious, and happily fitted to influence the views, and feelings of succeeding generations.”


  • Weld, Isaac, 1799, describing Norfolk County, Va. (pp. 101–2)
“A custom prevails in Norfolk, of private individuals holding grave yards, which are looked upon as a very lucrative kind of property, the owners receiving considerable fees annually for giving permission to people to bury their dead in them. It is very common also to see, in the large plantations in Virginia, and not far from the dwelling house, cemeteries walled in, where the people of the family are all buried. These cemeteries are generally built adjoining the garden.”


  • Dwight, Timothy, 1799, describing Stockbridge, Mass. (1822: 3:408)
“On our way to Stockbridge we went to the Indian monument, mentioned in a former part of these letters; and, to our great regret, found it broken up in the same manner, as that at New-Milford.
“I ought, in my account of that, to have added, that this mode of erecting monuments was adopted only on peculiar occasions. The common manner of Indian burial had nothing in it of this nature. The remains of the dead, who died at home, were lodged in a common cemetery, belonging to the village, in which they had lived.”


  • Lambert, John, 1816, describing New York, N.Y. (1816: 2:88)
“The church-yards and vaults are also situate [sic] in the heart of the town, and crowded with the dead. If they are not prejudicial to the health of the people, they are at least very unsightly exhibitions. One would think there was a scarcity of land in America, by seeing such large pieces of ground in one of the finest streets of New York occupied by the dead. But even if no noxious effluvia were to arise (and I rather suspect there must in the months of July, August, and September), still the continual view of such a crowd of white and brown tomb-stones and monuments which is exhibited in the Broadway, must at the sickly season of the year tend very much to depress the spirits, when they should rather be cheered and enlivened, for at that period much is effected by the force of imagination. There is a large burying-ground a short distance out of town; but the cemeteries in the city are still used in certain periods of the year.”


  • Lambert, John, 1816, describing Savannah, Ga. (2:267)
“A large burying-ground is judiciously situated out of town, upon the common. It is inclosed by a brick wall, and contains several monuments and tomb-stones, which are shaded by willows and pride of India; and have a very pretty effect. This cemetery, though now a considerable distance from the town, will, in time, most probably, be surrounded by the dwellings of the inhabitants, like those of New York and Charleston.”


  • Anonymous, 1823, describing in the St. Philips Parish Vestry Book a burial request made to the St. Philips Parish, Charleston, S.C. (quoted in Lounsbury 1994: 67)
“[At a meeting of the vestry] a letter from E. S. Garden & B. Bamfield (persons of Colour) were presented . . . wishing to know whether the Vestry would permit their remains to be interred in the Cemetery of the Church at some future day.”


Fessenden, Thomas Green, 25 January 1823, “National Burying Ground” (New England Farmer 1: 206)

“This cemetery is in a remote and lonely situation, being something more than a mile in a southeasterly direction from the Capitol. It lies immediately upon the bank of East Branch, at the distance of only a few yards from the water’s edge, but elevated considerably above it, and commanding an extensive view of the river. The winding path leading to it is over a wide and barren common—there are no houses in the vicinity—and it will be long before it will be in the midst of the . Had the churchyards of New-York been laid out with the same precaution, they would not now have formed a subject of legislation for the Common Council, nor for newspaper discussion. This grave-yard contains an area of two or three acres, enclosed by a plain wooden fence, and sprinkled with copses of native cedar, stinted in their growth and many of them withered, either from the poverty of the soil, or from having their roots broken by the spade of the grave-digger. There are however, enough living to conceal many of the graves; and their verdure, contrasted with the grey tomb stones produces an agreeable effect.”


  • Anonymous, 29 September 1825, describing in the St. Philip’s Parish Vestry Book meeting resolutions made in Charleston, S.C. (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; hereafter CWF)
“That social feeling & sense of propriety which induce the Vestry to keep their Cemetery neat & private, require them also to consult appearances, even in such solemn matters as the burial of Memorials of the dead, for the inscriptions perish long before the wood itself & then unseemly Appearances is a sufficient reason for excluding them. . . .
“The practice of appropriating certain portions of the Church yard as Family burial grounds, by means of Vaults and palings, seems to be of very ancient date & probably was almost with the use of the church. In order to abolish the latter mode the Vestry ordered on the 14th October 1767 (that persons who had enclosures in the church yard should not be allowed to repair them.) . . . On the 27th July 1800 the Vestry resolved that should application be made for leave to erect a Monument in the Churchyard, the vestry shall only allow a tablet against the wall, or a headstone not exceeding 4 1/2 feet in length-1 foot 10 inches in breadth and 3 1/2 inches in thickness.”


  • Story, Joseph, 24 September 1831, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.(pp. 16–17)
“A rural Cemetery seems to combine in itself all the advantages, which can be proposed to gratify human feelings, or tranquillize human fears; to secure the best religious influences, and to cherish all those associations, which cast a cheerful light over the darkness of the grave.
“And what spot can be more appropriate than this for such a purpose? Nature seems to point it out with significant energy, as the favorite retirement for the dead. There are around us all the varied features of her beauty and grandeur—the forest-crowned height; the abrupt acclivity; the sheltered valley; the deep glen; the grassy glade; and the silent grove. Here are the lofty oak, the beech, that ‘wreaths its old fantastic roots so high,’ the rustling pine, and the drooping willow; —the tree, that sheds its pale leaves with every autumn,a fit emblem of our own transitory bloom; and the evergreen, with its perennial shoots, instructing us, that ‘the wintry blast of death kills not the buds of virtue.’ Here is the thick shrubbery to protect and conceal the new-made grave; and there is the wild-flower creeping along the narrow path, and planting its seeds in the upturned earth. All around us there breathes a solemn calm, as if we were in the bosom of a wilderness, broken only by the breeze as it murmurs through the tops of the forest, or by the notes of the warbler pouring forth his matin or his evening song.”


  • Dearborn, H.A.S., 1832, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (quoted in Harris 1832: 63–65, 67–68)
“With the Experimental Garden it is recommended to unite a Rural Cemetery; for the period is not distant, when all the burial grounds within the city will be closed, and others must be formed in the country,—the primitive and only proper location. There the dead may repose undisturbed, through countless ages. There can be formed a public place of sepulture, where monuments can be erected to our illustrious men, whose remains, thus far, have unfortunately been consigned too obscure and isolated tombs, instead of being collected within one common depository, where their great deeds might be perpetuated and their memories cherished by succeeding generations.Though dead, they would be eternal admonitors to the living,—teaching them the way which leads to national glory and individual renown. . . .
“For the accommodation of the Garden of Experiment and Cemetery, at least seventy acres of land are deemed necessary; and in making the selection of a site, it was very important that from forty to fifty acres should be well or partially covered with forest trees and shrubs, which could be appropriated for the latter establishment; and that it should present all possible varieties of soil, common in the vicinity of Boston; be diversified by hills, valleys, plains, brooks, and low meadows and bogs, so as to afford proper localities for every kind of tree and plant, that will flourish in this climate;—be near to some large stream or river; and easy of access by land and water; but still sufficiently retired.
“To realize these advantages it is proposed, that a tract of land called ‘Sweet Auburn,’ situated in Cambridge, should be purchased. As a large portion of the ground is now covered with trees, shrubs, and wild flowering plants, avenues and walks may be made through them, in such a manner as to render the whole establishment interesting and beautiful, at a small expense, and within a few years; and ultimately offer an example of landscape or picturesque gardening, in conformity to the modern style of laying out grounds, which will be highly creditable to the Society. . . .
“The establishment of rural cemeteries similar to that of Pere La Chaise, has often been the subject of conversation in this country, and frequently adverted to by the writers in our scientific and literary publications. . . .
“That part of the land which has been recommended for a Cemetery may be circumvallated by a spacious avenue bordered by trees, shrubbery, and perennial flowers; rather as a line of demarcation than of disconnexion; for the ornamental grounds of the Garden should be apparently blended with those of the Cemetery, and the walks of each so intercommunicate as to afford an uninterrupted range over both, as one common domain.
“Among the hills, glades, and dales, which are now covered with evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, may be selected sites for isolated graves, and tombs, and these, being surmounted with columns, obelisks, and other appropriate monuments of granite and marble, may be rendered interesting specimens of art; they will also vary and embelish the scenery embraced within the scope of the numerous sinuous avenues, which may be felicitously opened in all directions and to a vast extent, from the diversified and picturesque features which the topography of the tract of land presents.”


  • Martineau, Harriet, 1834, describing a cemetery in New Orleans, La. (1838: 2:228–29)
“Before visiting Mount Auburn I had seen the Catholic cemetery at New-Orleans, and the contrast was remarkable enough. I never saw a city churchyard, however damp and neglected, so dreary as the New-Orleans cemetery. It lies in the swamp, glaring with its plastered monuments in the sun, with no shade but from the tombs. Being necessarily drained, it is intersected by ditches of weedy stagnant water, alive with frogs, dragonflies, and moscheto-hawks [sic]. Irish, French, and Spanish are all crowded together, as if the ground could scarcely be opened fast enough for those whom the fever lays low; an impression confirmed by a glance at the dates. The tombs of the Irish have inscriptions which provoke a kind of smile, which is no pleasure in such a place. Those of nuns bear no inscription but the monastic name—Agathe, Seraphine, Thérèse—and the date of death. Wooden crosses, warped in the sun or rotting with the damp, are in some places standing at the heads of graves, in others are leaning or fallen. Glass boxes, containing artificial flowers and tied with faded ribands, stand at the foot of some of these crosses. Elsewhere we saw pitchers with bouquets of natural flowers, the water dried up and the blossoms withered. One enclosure surrounding a monument was adorned with cypress, arbour vitae, roses, and honeysuckles, and this was a relief to the eye while the feet were treading the hot dusty walks or the parched grass. The first principle of a cemetery was here violated, necessarily, no doubt, but by a sad necessity. The first principle of a cemetery—beyond the obligation of its being made safe and wholesome—is that it should be cheerful in its aspect.”


  • B., J., 1 October 1836, “Horticulture in Maine,” describing Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Maine (Horticultural Register 2: 386)
“Mount Hope cemetery is in imitation of Mount Auburn, and was consecrated the present season. It contains thirteen acres mostly on a steep, conical hill, ornamented by nature with evergreen and other trees. The avenues and walks have been laid out under the direction of Dr Barstow and are either completed or in a state of forwardness. At the foot of the hill is a small run or brook, across which a dam has been built and a pond raised. Passing thus by a neat bridge, we enter another lot of ten acres, which has been purchased by the city for a public burial ground, and the whole is about to be inclosed by a substantial fence in one piece.”


  • Adams, Rev. Nehemiah, 1838, describing Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Mass. ([Adams] 1838: 24)
“And were it not for the fact, that cemeteries are very injudiciously allowed in cities, we should advert with pleasure to the walks afforded by the Copp’s Hill burying-ground—wanting only a grove of ancient trees to render it delightful.”


  • Anonymous, 1839, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (The Picturesque Pocket Companion, and Visitors’ Guide through Mount Auburn, 1839: 3)
“The celebrity attained by Mount Auburn, pronounced by European travellers the most beautiful Cemetery in existence, and which, perhaps, without assuming too much, may be called the Père la Chaise of America,—the extraordinary natural loveliness of the spot,—the admirable character of the establishment which is there maintained,—the fact that this was the first conspicuous example of the kind in our country.”


  • Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 1840, describing New Haven Burying Ground, New Haven, Conn. (1971: 220)
“To the enterprise of the same public-spirited gentleman [Honorable James Hillhouse], New Haven owes one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. The square in the rear of the churches was formerly, according to the English custom, used as a churchyard, and encumbered with graves, which soon threatened to overrun its limits. Mr. Hillhouse, some years since, purchased a field in the western skirt of the town, laid it out and planted it, and subsequently removed to it all the tombstones and remains from the Green; among them the headstone of the regicide Goffe. It is now one of the most beautiful of burial-places. The monuments are of white marble, or of a very rich verd antique found in the neighbourhood; and the natural elegance of the place has induced a taste and elegance into these monuments for the dead, found in no other spot of the same character.”


  • Buckingham, James Silk, 1841, describing Rochester, N.Y. (2:215)
“A large piece of ground on the east of the river and south of the city, seated on a pleasing eminence, has also been recently devoted to the purpose of a public cemetery, to supersede all the smaller ones; and the intention is to plant it with ornamental shrubs and lay it out in walks, so as to make it as agreeable as Laurel Hill at Philadelphia, or Mount Auburn at Boston.”


  • Buckingham, James Silk, 1841, describing Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. (2:382)
“A comparison has been often made between the Père la Chaise of Paris and the Mount Auburn of Boston, and the similarity of their situation and their purpose naturally forces this comparison on the mind. Having seen both, I may venture to offer an opinion on this subject, with great deference, however, to those who may think otherwise. In many respects, then, I think Mount Auburn superior to Père la Chaise. Its natural scenery of hill and dale, of river, lake, and forest-trees, with other surrounding objects, presents a combination which is not to be found in the cemetery of Paris, and which is far more in harmony with the repose of the dead than the most sumptuous monuments, without these combinations, can be. In this last respect Père la Chaise is perhaps unrivalled.”


  • Buckingham, James Silk, 1842, describing Wythe County, Va. (CWF)
“Soon after our setting out, we observed in the fields a large sycamore-tree, with wide-spreading branches, enclosed with a neat palisade, and was told that this was a very usual way of forming a rustic cemetery, which was confirmed by our seeing several graves within the enclosure.”


  • W. [pseud.], February 1842, “An Account of the Lowell Cemetery,” Lowell, Mass. (Magazine of Horticulture 8: 47–48)
“The Lowell Cemetery contains an area of about forty-four acres of land, retired, and pleasantly situated on the southern slope of ‘Fort Hill,’

and at the distance of about three quarters of a mile from the city, and a mile and half from the City Hall. The surface of the ground is beautifully diversified with hill and valley. . . .

“With such variety of surface, this ground possesses a high degree of adaptation as a place of sepulture; and ornamented both by nature and art, this cemetery must have attractions for the most unobserving and the least reflecting. There are many historical associations connected with this spot, and its former, but now long deceased, occupants.”


  • Bryant, William Cullen, 7 April 1843, describing Savannah, Ga. (quoted in Clarke 1993: 2:155)
“In the same neighborhood [south of the town], just without the town, lies the public cemetery, surrounded by an ancient wall, built before the Revolution, which in some places shows the marks of shot fired against it in the skirmishes of that period. . . . At a little distance, near a forest, lies the burial-place of the black population. A few trees, trailing with long moss, rise above hundreds of nameless graves, overgrown with weeds; but here and there are scattered memorials of the dead, some of a very humble kind, with a few of marble, and half a dozen spacious brick tombs like those in the cemetery of the whites.”


  • Tuthill, Louisa C., 1848, describing Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. ([1848] 1988: 337)
“Greenwood Cemetery near New York, is beautifully situated, and contains many magnificent monuments.” [Fig. 8]


  • Tuthill, Louisa C., 1848, describing Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa. ([1848] 1988: 337–38)
“Laurel Hill, on the banks of the Schuylkill, is another rural cemetery, consecrated to the repose of the dead, by the citizens of Philadelphia. ‘Every mind capable of appreciating the beautiful in nature, must admire its gentle declivities, its expansive lawns, its hill beetling over the picturesque stream, its rugged ascents, its flowery dells, its rocky ravines, and its river-washed borders.’”


  • Downing, A. J., July 1849, “Public Cemeteries and Public Gardens” (Horticulturist 4: 9–10)
“The great attraction of these cemeteries, to the mass of the community, is not in the fact that they are burial places, or solemn places of meditation for the friends of the deceased, or striking exhibitions of monumental sculpture, though all these have their influence. All these might be realized in a burial ground, planted with straight lines of willows, and sombre avenues of evergreens. The true secret of the attraction lies in the natural beauty of the sites, and in the tasteful and harmonious embellishment of these sites by art. Nearly all these cemeteries were rich portions of forest land, broken by hill and dale, and varied by copses and glades, like Mount Auburn and Greenwood, or old country seats, richly wooded with fine planted trees, like Laurel Hill. Hence, to the inhabitant of the town, a visit to one of these spots has the united charm of nature and art,—the double wealth of rural and moral associations. It awakens, at the same moment, the feeling of human sympathy and the love of natural beauty, implanted in every heart. His must be a dull or a trifling soul that neither swells with emotion, or rises with admiration, at the varied beauty of these lovely and hallowed spots.
“Indeed, in the absence of great public gardens, such as we must surely one day have in America, our rural cemeteries are doing a great deal to enlarge and educate the popular taste in rural embellishment. They are for the most part laid out with admirable taste; they contain the greatest variety of trees and shrubs to be found in the country, and several of them are kept in a manner seldom equalled in private places. . . .
“The character of each of the three great cemeteries is essentially distinct. Greenwood, the largest, and unquestionably the finest, is grand, dignified, and park-like. It is laid out in a broad and simple style, commands noble ocean views, and is admirably kept. Mount Auburn is richly picturesque, in its varied hill and dale, and owes its charm mainly to this variety and intricacy of sylvan features. Laurel Hill is a charming pleasure-ground, filled with beautiful and rare shrubs and flowers; at this season, a wilderness of roses, as well as fine trees and monuments.” [Fig. 9]


“857. Cemeteries....
A public cemetery was formed in 1831 at Mount Auburn, about three miles from Boston, and is easily approached either by the road, or the river which washes its borders. . . . ‘This romantic and picturesque cemetery,’ says Dr. Mease, ‘is the fashionable place of interment with the people of Boston.’ . . .
Cemeteries at Philadelphia. ‘Laurel Hill is about three miles and a half north of the city, on the river Schuylkill. The part devoted to interments embraces about twenty acres, and is laid out in the most tasteful manner. The entrance is a specimen of Doric architecture, through which is a pleasing vista, and on each side are lodges for the accommodation of the gravedigger and gardener; and within is a neat cottage for the superintendent, a Gothic chapel for funeral service, a large dwelling-house for visiters [sic], a handsome receiving tomb, stabling for forty carriages, and a greenhouse. Besides the native forest trees on the place, several hundred more, and many ornamental shrubs, have been planted. The lots are enclosed by iron railings.’ . . . (Dr. Mease in the Gard. Mag., for 1843, p. 666.) . . .
The cemetery of the Episcopal church of the town of Guildford is in a public square, and uninclosed. The graves are, therefore, trampled upon, and the monuments injured, both by men and cattle.”


  • Anonymous, 13 May 1850, describing in the St. Stephen’s Parish Vestry Book the preservation of burial grounds in Berkeley County, S.C. (CWF)
“7th Resolved that out of the first money accruing from the interest of the church fund or from the benevolence of Individual Donors, it shall be the duty of the Trustees then in office to enclose the church and all the ground about it for the purpose of a Public Burying yard with a wide & deep ditch & a high and well-formed embankment on three sides of the Church, leaving the side bounding on the public river road open and free of access to the public, and such cemetery shall always be free to the uses of such persons as may desire to use it for that purpose, &c.”

Citations

Images

Notes

  1. For a discussion about early American cemeteries and burial grounds, including both church and family plots, see John R. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 1580 to 1845 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982), 219–31. Stilgoe associates family plot–type burial grounds in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with southern culture. He argues that “Tidewater settlers confronted death and burial . . . in a manner different from New Englanders,” and points to, for example, the southern practice of maintaining plots and gravestones in contrast to Puritan neglect that was more common in the north (p. 229), view on Zotero.
  2. David Charles Sloane provides a useful chart of the characteristics of American cemeteries, including date, design, location, grave marker style and material, type of manager of the cemetery, distinctive features, paradigms, and examples. See David Charles Sloane, The Last Great Necessity: Cemeteries in American History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), 4–5, view on Zotero.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Blanche Linden-Ward and David C. Sloane, “Spring Grove: The Founding of Cincinnati’s Rural Cemetery, 1845–1855,” Queen City Heritage 43 (spring 1985): 18, view on Zotero. Note that most of the evidence collected for this project concentrates upon Protestant burial areas. This bias appears to be inherent in primary cemetery/burying ground/burial ground accounts of the American landscape. Future research needs to be conducted with regard to the burial practices between 1492 and 1850 of other faiths, especially Catholicism and Judaism, in America.
  5. The evidence collected here does not support David Sloane’s argument, in his otherwise illuminating study, that the term “cemetery” became the standard in the early nineteenth century. Sloan writes, “Although used sporadically by Europeans for centuries, the term became the standard one for a burial place in the nineteenth century. Rural cemeteries were different than previous burial places, and their founders believed that they deserved a distinct name.” Sloane, The Last Great Necessity, 55, view on Zotero.
  6. For more about Romantic literature and its effect upon the rural cemetery movement, see David Schulyer’s chapter about rural cemeteries in his book The New Urban Landscape: The Redefinition of City Form in Nineteenth-Century America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), view on Zotero.
  7. For more about the history of Mount Auburn Cemetery, see Blanche Linden-Ward, Silent City on a Hill: Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1989), view on Zotero, and Barbara Rotundo, “Mount Auburn: Fortunate Coincidences and an Ideal Solution,” Journal of Garden History 4 (July–September 1984): 223–56.
  8. For further information about the development of Père Lachaise, see Richard A. Etlin, The Architecture of Death: The Transformation of the Cemetery in Eighteenth-Century Paris (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984), 299–301, view on Zotero.
  9. Mount Auburn Cemetery also marked a new period in the financing of cemeteries. Instead of being treated as the property of the city or a church, Mount Auburn Cemetery was run by a corporation of private, civic-minded individuals and lots were sold to the public.
  10. For further details about the history of Spring Grove Cemetery, see Blanche Linden-Ward and David C. Sloane, “Spring Grove,” 17–32, view on Zotero. For more about Laurel Hill, see Keith N. Morgan, “The Emergence of the American Landscape Professional: John Notman and the Design of Rural Cemeteries,” Journal of Garden History 4 (July–September 1984): 269–90, view on Zotero. Also, see Donald Simon, “Green-Wood Cemetery and the American Park Movement,” in Essays in the History of New York City: A Memorial to Sidney Pomerantz, ed. Irwin Yellowitz (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat, 1978), 61–77, view on Zotero.
  11. James Curl, A Celebration of Death: An Introduction to Some of the Buildings, Monuments, and Settings of Funerary Architecture in the Western European Tradition (London: Constable, 1980), 274, view on Zotero.

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History of Early American Landscape Design contributors, "Cemetery/Burying ground/Burial ground," History of Early American Landscape Design, , https://heald.nga.gov/mediawiki/index.php?title=Cemetery/Burying_ground/Burial_ground&oldid=21507 (accessed November 16, 2024).

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