Wildwood Cemetery (Amherst, Massachusetts)
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Details | |
Established | 1887 |
Location | 20 Strong Street, Amherst, Massachusetts, US |
Coordinates | 42°23′18″N 72°30′54″W / 42.38833°N 72.51500°W |
Type | Private, Non-profit |
Size | 81 acres (33 ha) |
Wildwood Cemetery is an active non-profit cemetery in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, designed and laid out in the late 19th century.
History[edit]
Wildwood Cemetery is a non-denominational, not-for-profit, 81 acre cemetery located near the center of the college town of Amherst, Massachusetts.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Wildwood_Cemetery_in_Amherst_entrance_sign.jpg/220px-Wildwood_Cemetery_in_Amherst_entrance_sign.jpg)
Wildwood is a serene setting atop a hill, just off Pleasant Street which abuts both Amherst College and University of Massachusetts at Amherst.[1]
Established in 1887 with the help of poet Emily Dickinson’s brother Austin,[2] the landscape design was inspired by Fredrick Law Olmsted.
It is an active cemetery with new lots available for purchase. Though there were initial plans for a chapel on site, this did not happen, so services are held graveside.
Bird watchers and naturalists are drawn to the cemetery for the flora and fauna.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Gravestones_and_benches_at_Wildwood_Cemetery.jpg/220px-Gravestones_and_benches_at_Wildwood_Cemetery.jpg)
Preserving the appearance and feel of the late nineteenth century guides cemetery decisions.
Notable interments[edit]
- Herbert Baxter Adams (1850–1901), historian, author, Johns Hopkins University professor[3]
- George Bosworth Churchill (1866–1925), politician[4]
- Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998), historian, author.
- Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson (1830–1913), closest friend of Emily Dickinson, wife of her brother Austin Dickinson.
- William Austin Dickinson (1829–1895), attorney, Amherst College Treasurer, brother of Emily Dickinson.
- Julius Hawley Seelye (1824–1895), politician.
- David Peck Todd (1855–1939), astronomer and Amherst College professor.
- Mabel Loomis Todd (1858–1932), author, speaker, socialite, early editor of poet Emily Dickinson's work.
References[edit]
- ^ "UMass Campus Map" (PDF). U Mass Amherst. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
- ^ "Cemeteries". Amherst Massachusetts Government. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
- ^ "Herbert Baxter Adams, American historian and educator". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
- ^ "Hampshire County, Mass". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 2023-09-23.