Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)

Cedar Hill Cemetery
The Mark Howard monument, one of Cedar Hill's most famous.
Location 453 Fairfield Ave., in Hartford, Wethersfield, and Newington, Connecticut
Coordinates 41°43′20″N 72°42′12″W / 41.72222°N 72.70333°WCoordinates: 41°43′20″N 72°42′12″W / 41.72222°N 72.70333°W
Built 1865
Architect multiple, including Weidenmann, Jacob
Architectural style Gothic, Queen Anne, Modern Movement
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference # 97000333[1][2]
Added to NRHP April 28, 1997

Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut is located at 453 Fairfield Avenue. It was designed by landscape architect Jacob Weidenmann (1829–1893) who also designed Hartford's Bushnell Park. Its first sections were completed in 1866 and the first burial took place on July 17, 1866. Cedar Hill was designed as an American rural cemetery in the tradition of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The cemetery straddles three towns. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, in Hartford, Newington, and Wethersfield.[1][3] It includes the Cedar Hill Cemetery Gateway and Chapel, also known as Northam Memorial Chapel and Gallup Memorial Gateway, which is separately listed on the NRHP.

Cedar Hill Cemetery encompasses 270 acres (1.1 km2) and includes several historic buildings, including the Northam Memorial Chapel (built 1882), which was designed by Hartford architect George Keller, and the Superintendent's Cottage (built 1875), which continues to be occupied by Cedar Hill's Superintendent to this day.

Open from dawn til dusk 365 days a year, Cedar Hill Cemetery welcomes visitors to walk the grounds and partake in the expansive art, history and natural resources this park-like space has to offer.

Notable monuments

Cynthia Talcott monument

Cedar Hill has many unique monuments. One of the most recognizable is the 18-foot (5.5 m) tall pink-granite pyramid, and life-sized angel statue, erected in memory of Mark Howard and his wife, Angelina Lee Howard. Mark Howard was president of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford and Connecticut's first internal revenue collector. [4]

Another example of an unusual grave is that of Cynthia Talcott, age two, which features her likeness in stone.

John Pierpont Morgan's family monument was designed by architect George W. Keller. Made of red Scottish granite, the monument was designed to portray Morgan's vision of the Ark of the Covenant. [5]

The Porter-Valentine mausoleum features a stained-glass window created by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Notable burials

Family plot of Yung Wing, the first Chinese graduate of an American university, Yale.
Weeping European Beech, June 2011

More than 30,000 people are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery, including many Hartford notables such as:[6]

Image gallery

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut).
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
  2. ↑ actual announcement, on weekly listings on the NRHP
  3. ↑ "CONNECTICUT - Hartford County - Historic Districts". National Register of Historic Places mirror site. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ Architectural Gems. Courant.com (2007-07-06). Retrieved on 2013-08-21.
  6. ↑ "Notable Residents". Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut). Retrieved 2014-09-28. Cedar Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of numerous politicians, industrialists, writers, actors, artists and educators. Below is a listing of some of Cedar Hill’s most notable residents.
  7. ↑ Edwin Denison Morgan, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed April 25, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Rev. Joseph H. Twichell Of Hartford". New York Times. December 15, 1895. Retrieved 2014-09-28. The Rev. Joseph H. Twichell, who completed thirty years of his pastorate at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church Friday, Dec. 13, in a native of the town of Southington and was graduated from Yale in the class of '58. ...
  9. ↑ "Katharine Seymour Day (1870 – 1964)". Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut). Retrieved 2014-09-28.

External links