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. 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 W. 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 :
Cedar Hill has many unique monuments. One of the most recognizable is the 16-foot (4.9 m) tall pink-granite pyramid, and life-sized angel statue, erected in memory of Mark Howard and his wife, Angeline Lee Howard. Mark Howard was tax collector/postmaster of Hartford and became president of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford. He was a founding pastor of the Asylum Hill Church in Hartford, and an abolitionist. Their Asylum Hill Farm became an artist's retreat hosting writers and thinkers of the day, including Samuel Clemens, Harriett Beecher Stowe, and Ambrose Bierce among others.
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. The Porter-Valentine mausoleum features a stained-glass window created by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
