Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)

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.

Cedar Hill Cemetery
The Mark Howard monument, one of Cedar Hill's most famous.
Location453 Fairfield Ave., in Hartford, Wethersfield, and Newington, Connecticut
Coordinates41°43′20″N 72°42′12″W
Built1865
Architectmultiple, including Weidenmann, Jacob
Architectural styleGothic, Queen Anne, Modern Movement
NRHP reference No.97000333[1][2]
Added to NRHPApril 28, 1997

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
The grave of Katharine Hepburn
Family plot of Yung Wing, the first Chinese graduate of an American university, Yale.
General Stedman Monument, sculpted by John M. Moffit
Weidenman family headstone

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

Horace Wells monument (1909), Louis Potter, sculptor

Image gallery: Monuments
  • Angel sculpture, Mark Howard monument
  • Statue atop Oswin Welles monument, sculpted by Carl Conrads (1873)
  • General Stedman monument, sculpted by John M. Moffit
  • Hunt family monument, sculpted by Carl Conrads
  • Statue atop Clark family monument, designed by Truman Howe Bartlett (1868) and sculpted by Ferdinand von Miller (1869)
  • Angel of the Resurrection atop Colt family monument, sculpted by Randolph Rogers (1864)[11]
  • Statue atop Marshall Jewell monument, sculpted by Carl Conrads
  • Statue atop John B. Windsor monument, sculpted by Carl Conrads (circa 1887-1905)

Image gallery: Trees
  • Weeping European Beech, June 2011
  • Weeping European Beech, June 2011
  • Ginkgo, November 2014
  • Purple Japanese Threadleaf Maple, July 2011
  • Japanese Threadleaf Maple Trees, November 2013
  • Ed Richardson with Japanese Threadleaf Maple, June 2013 This tree was planted in honor of Mr. Richardson's work measuring and mapping the trees of Cedar Hill Cemetery.
  • Pink Weeping Cherry Tree, March 2012

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  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. "A Guide to the Mark Howard Papers at the Connecticut Historical Society" (PDF). chs.org. Connecticut Historical Society Museum and Library. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  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. "Katharine Seymour Day (1870 – 1964)". Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut). Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  8. Edwin Denison Morgan, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed April 25, 2008.
  9. "Connecticut's Civil War Monuments - Genl. Griffin A. Stedman". CHS.org. Connecticut Historical Society. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  10. "Rev. Joseph H. Twichell Of Hartford". The 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. ...
  11. Inscription at base of statue shows date as "MDCCCLXIV" (1864).
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