Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester)

Mount Hope Cemetery

Gate House of Mount Hope Cemetery
Details
Established 1838
Location Rochester, New York
Country USA
Coordinates 43°07′42″N 77°37′17″W / 43.12833°N 77.62139°W / 43.12833; -77.62139
Type public
Owned by City of Rochester
Size 196 acres (79 ha)
Number of graves 350,000
Find a Grave Mount Hope Cemetery
The Political Graveyard Mount Hope Cemetery

Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York, founded in 1838, is one of the United States' first municipal rural cemeteries. Situated on 196 acres (793,000 m²) (0.3 square miles) of land adjacent to the University of Rochester on Mount Hope Avenue, the cemetery is the permanent resting place of over 350,000 people. The annual growth rate of this cemetery is 500-600 burials per year.

Mount Hope also contains the ruins of a now outdated catacomb system, most notably with its sealed entrance on the east-facing drumlin upon entering the cemetery from the north. Its alternative entrance (also sealed) can be found in the Sunken Garden of Warner Castle across Mt. Hope Avenue. In 2010, G. Gotham Smith shot a segment of the feature film 3.14.. around the pond and catacombs.

Geology of Mount Hope

About 12,000 to 14,000 years ago, Mount Hope was covered with ice one to two miles thick. As the glacier receded, cracks appeared in the ice, and these crevasses became rivers of water and gravel. When the miles-high ice sheets finally melted, these river beds were left as ridges created from all the rock and rubble that had been deposited by the flowing river. In geological terms, these ridges are called eskers. One such esker snakes its way through much of Mount Hope Cemetery.

The Seneca Indians used the Mount Hope esker as a trail from the Bristol Hills south of Rochester to Lake Ontario on the city's northern border. For the Senecas, it provided a continuous high path through the moraine and visibility of valleys around them. Today, this esker is a principal vehicular lane through the cemetery and is called Indian Trail Avenue.

Notable burials

The gravestone of Frederick Douglass at Mt. Hope

General Elwell Stephen Otis was originally interred at Mount Hope before being removed to Arlington National Cemetery. Notable cremations at Mount Hope include Blanche Stuart Scott and George Eastman.

Friends of Mount Hope

The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery is a non-profit organization of volunteers founded in 1980 to restore, preserve, and encourage public use and enjoyment of this unique historical treasure.

View of grave markers in Section L

See also

References

    Further reading

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