Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)
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Cedar Hill Cemetery
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The Mark Howard monument, one of Cedar Hill's most famous.
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| Location: | 453 Fairfield Ave., in Hartford, Wethersfield and Newington, Connecticut |
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| 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.
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Notable monuments[edit]
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. [1]
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. [2]
The Porter-Valentine mausoleum features a stained-glass window created by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Notable burials[edit]
More than 30,000 people are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery, including many Hartford notables such as:
- Henry Barnard, American educationalist
- Morgan Gardner Bulkeley, Governor of Connecticut
- Thomas Church Brownell, founder of Trinity College
- William Closson, American artist
- Samuel Colt, inventor of the Colt revolver and his wife, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, Philanthropist
- Katharine Seymour Day, artist
- Virginia Dox, frontier educator and popular lecturer
- Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, founder of the First American School for the Deaf
- Joseph Roswell Hawley, Governor of Connecticut
- Katharine Hepburn,(1907 - 2003) Actress
- Katharine Houghton Hepburn, (1878–1951) Women's Rights Activist
- Edwin D. Morgan (1811–1883), United States Senator.[4]
- John Pierpont Morgan, Sr., financier
- Thomas H. Seymour, Governor of Connecticut
- Virginia Thrall Smith, children's advocate
- Griffin Stedman, Civil War General
- Wallace Stevens, poet
- Robert O. Tyler, Civil War General
- Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Abraham Lincoln
- Horace Wells, discoverer of Anesthesia
- Yung Wing, first Chinese graduate of an American university at Yale
References[edit]
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
- ^ actual announcement, on weekly listings on the NRHP
- ^ "CONNECTICUT - Hartford County - Historic Districts". National Register of Historic Places mirror site. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
- ^ Edwin Denison Morgan, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed April 25, 2008.
External links[edit]
- Cedar Hill Cemetery and Foundation, official website
- Cedar Hill's Distinguished Heritage, official website subpage on history
- David F. Ransom, NPHP Nomination, Cedar Hill Cemetery, 1996.
- Mapquest link, showing the cemetery
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- Historic districts in Connecticut
- Burials at Cedar Hill Cemetery (Hartford, Connecticut)
- Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
- Queen Anne architecture in Connecticut
- Gothic Revival architecture in Connecticut
- Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut
- Cemeteries in Hartford County, Connecticut
- Visitor attractions in Hartford, Connecticut