Cedar Hill's Distinguished Heritage
Until the late 18th century, burial customs in America were conducted in a practical manner. The early settlers buried their dead in the traditions of their homelands with little ceremony or thought to commemorating the deceased.
By the early 19th century, colonial burying grounds and churchyards located in rapidly expanding towns and cities were becoming overcrowded and neglected. As the century progressed, there was a growing public attitude that a cemetery should fill a larger purpose than merely serve as a place for interment. The development of what we know today as the American "rural" cemetery addressed these issues.
In 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts became the first cemetery in America to be developed in the "rural" style. Mount Auburn was located away from the town's center and designed in a park-like manner. The Cemetery's innovative landscape was complete with the winding paths and shady glens thought appropriate for contemplating the solemnity of death. Mount Auburn set the tone for a rapidly expanding movement in cemetery development.
By 1863, Hartford needed a place of burial satisfactory to its practical as well as aesthetic Victorian-era requirements. In response, a group of prominent Hartford citizens met to discuss establishing a new cemetery. Landscape Pioneer Jacob Weidenmann, who had designed Hartford’s Bushnell Park several years earlier, agreed to serve as the cemetery's first superintendent and to design the landscape.
Cedar Hill's historic landscape played a significant role in American cemetery development and its innovative layout became the guiding principle for Weidenmann's book Modern Cemeteries written in 1888. While the landscape incorporates the best features of earlier prototypes such as drives following the natural sweep of the terrain in a graceful, curving manner, it also includes several features unique in rural cemetery design. The burial plots are smaller than those of its contemporaries and not always contiguous. This arrangement allows for plantings in the spaces between the lots and creates vistas unbroken by hedges or curbing.
Perhaps the most impressive feature of Cedar Hill's landscape is the ornamental foreground, which effectively secludes the burial sections of the Cemetery from the roadway. Much of Cedar Hill's wildlife is sustained natural habitat containing more than 65 acres of ponds and woodlands. The largest of the ponds is Llyn Mawr whose name means "great lake." Entirely man-made, Llyn Mawr covers about eight acres of the foreground along the entrance avenue. As the main entrance to the cemetery grounds, the foreground later was enhanced by the Superintendent's Cottage in 1875, the Northam Memorial Chapel in 1882 and the Gallup Memorial Gateway in 1888. Together, they form the cemetery entrance as it exists today.
Cedar Hill Offers a World of Art . . .
Many of Cedar Hill's beautiful and unique monuments were designed and executed by well-known architects and artists such as Carl Conrads, Randolph Rogers, Richard M. Upjohn and George Keller. One unusual monument is an 18-foot, pink granite pyramid marking the grave of Cedar Hill Director Mark Howard. The George Beach Memorial resembles the lantern over the Connecticut State Capitol dome while J.P. Morgan's tomb represents his vision of the Ark of the Covenant.
History. . .
Since the completion of its first sections in 1866, Cedar Hill Cemetery has been honored to have been chosen as the final resting place of many distinguished and well-known individuals.
Among them are Jacob Weidenmann, pioneer landscape architect and Cedar Hill's first superintendent; Glastonbury native Gideon Welles, editor of The Hartford Times newspaper and Secretary of the Navy under President Abraham Lincoln; Samuel Colt, inventor of the famous Colt 45 revolver and founder of Colt Industries; Isabella Beecher Hooker, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe and 19th century leader of the women's movement; Thomas Gallaudet, founder of The American School for the Deaf; Hartford dentist, Horace Wells, the first to prove the use of nitrous oxide as an anesthetic; Morgan Gardner Bulkeley Connecticut's "Crowbar Governor", State Senator, President of Aetna Life Insurance Company and the first U.S. Commissioner of Baseball; J.P. Morgan, Hartford-born financier and philanthropist; Gilbert Heublein, founder of the Heublein Corporation; Yung Wing, Chinese scholar, Yale graduate, and founder, in 1872, of Hartford's Chinese Education Mission; the enigmatic, internationally-acclaimed poet, Wallace Stevens; the world-famous artist, William Glackens, and, most recently, the incomparable Katharine Hepburn.
Cedar Hill's historic architecture is also worth noting. The Northam Memorial Chapel was constructed in 1882 with funds donated by prominent Hartford businessman, Colonel Charles Harvey Northam. Colonel Northam's philanthropic works also extended to Trinity College, the Home for the Aged (now Jefferson House), Hartford Hospital and Christ Church.
Prominent Hartford Architect George Keller designed the Northam Memorial Chapel as well as the Gallup Memorial Gateway and several monuments at Cedar Hill. He also was noted for his work on the chapel at Hartford's Institute for Living and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch.
The architecture of the Northam Memorial Chapel is simple and restrained in its use of motifs and reflects Keller's vision as a Victorian and romantic. Cruciform in plan, the chapel was constructed of Westerly granite and designed using the latest technology of the day. The pews and paneled wood ceiling are cherry wood, as is a screen with upper panels of stained glass that separates the vestibule from the main section of the chapel. Cottier & Co. of New York and London designed and executed the structure's stained-glass pieces. The floor is tiled with colored stone in a pattern called "Labyrinth" or "Road to Jerusalem." An unusual feature was a hydraulic lift, which is said to be the first of its type in the country. Following a funeral service, the lift lowered the casket to a holding area below.
Funeral services were held in the chapel, particularly in winter or inclement weather, until the early 1930s. In the 1950s, the Chapel went into disuse and in 1999, the chapel was completely restored. In addition to welcoming visitors to tour the historic Chapel, it now houses the Cemetery’s administrative offices.
Also designed by Keller, the Gallup Memorial Gateway was constructed in 1888 with funds donated by Hartford resident Julia Gallup. The Gateway's architecture complements that of the chapel and a low granite wall connects the two structures. The gateway consists of a wrought iron carriage gate flanked on either side by pedestrian gates. A waiting room stands at the left of the gates and an office building at the right. The carriage and pedestrian gates fill the main entranceway. The gates are impressive examples of iron wrought on so large a scale. Containing no cast work, their intricate design was wrought entirely by hand with hammer an anvil.
And Nature
The Cemetery grounds comprise 270 acres of woodlands, fields, wetlands and ponds that attract many species of wildlife. Animals found in Cedar Hill's wooded areas include white-tailed deer, red fox, eastern coyote, raccoon and cottontail rabbit. Cedar Hill's songbirds include the vireo, chickadee, towhee, red-winged blackbird, catbird and yellow warbler. Canada goose, bob-white quail, ring-neck pheasant, wild turkey, mallard and wood duck are a few of the land and water fowl in Cedar Hill's ponds and surrounds. Hawks and owls also are a common sight. Each year, the Audubon Society conducts its annual winter bird count at Cedar Hill.
In addition to the wildlife, Cedar Hill's landscape contains many rare and notable trees specifically imported for its arboretum, many of which are state champions. Chinese witch-hazel, flowering dogwood, weeping cherry, tulip, magnolia and ginkgo biloba are some of Cedar Hill's wide variety of trees. Others are cedar, white ash, black birch, red oak, elm, hemlock, and silver, red and sugar maple. Cedar Hill is a member of the Connecticut Tree Protective Association and has been honored by that organization for its "exemplary professionalism and dedication to the protection and care of Connecticut trees." Horticulture specialists maintain an inventory of Cedar Hill's trees to serve as an educational resource and enhance future planning of this distinguished arboretum.
To learn more about Cedar Hill's world of art, history and nature, call, email or visit Cedar Hill Cemetery. |
