Mount Hope Cemetery in

Rochester, Monroe County, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, founded in 1838, is the first municipal

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...

in the United States. It is the burial site of

Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to s ...

and

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

. Situated on of land adjacent to the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of ...

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. The cemetery hosts the sculpture ''Defenders of the Flag'', a Civil War monument made in 1908 by the American sculptor Sally James Farnham. In 2018 it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

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 A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

receded, cracks appeared in the ice, and these

crevasses A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pi ...

became rivers of water and gravel. When the miles-high ice sheets finally melted, these

river beds A stream bed or streambed is the bottom of a stream or river (bathymetry) or the physical confine of the normal water flow ( channel). The lateral confines or channel margins are known as the stream banks or river banks, during all but flood ...

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

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Ame ...

s. One such esker snakes its way through much of Mount Hope Cemetery.

Notable structures and events

Defenders of the Flag - Sally James Farnham - Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester) 01

Defenders of the Flag - Sally James Farnham - Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester) 04

Mount Hope Cemetery was once the site of "The Fandango Tower." This was a wooden structure, sitting atop the highest elevation of the cemetery, acting as an observation tower. This offered visitors grand views of the city, as well as the meandering

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

. The Fandango was involved in the "Great Rochester Mirage" of April 1871. Visitors to the tower noted on the morning of April 16, 1871, that views of the Canadian banks of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

could be seen from the tower in great detail, as if replacing those of Rochester. These views of Canada's lake shores, over 50 miles away, were indeed visible from The Fandango Tower, due to an atmospheric phenomena known as Fata Morgana. The Fandango Tower is no more, however the ruined foundations can still be found in one of the deep kettles of the cemetery to this day. The architectural styles of the cemetery's

gravestone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

and grave markers, crypts,

chapels A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

, gatehouses, and mausoleums span three centuries. Distinct motifs of the

High Victorian Gothic High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Promo ...

and Neoclassical architectural traditions persist throughout the cemetery and its various structures.

Tiffany glass Tiffany glass refers to the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1933 at the Tiffany Studios in New York City, by Louis Comfort Tiffany and a team of other designers, including Clara Driscoll, Agnes F. Northrop, an ...

windows may be found in several of the mausoleums. The cemetery contains two non-denominational chapels which the Friends group refers to by their construction dates: the 1862 Chapel and the 1912 Chapel. Neither has been used for decades and as of 2020 both are closed to the public due to their structural deterioration. The cemetery is home to several working water features. Sylvan Waters, a water feature constructed within a naturally forming kettle pond, was remodeled and brought back into use during the Fall-Winter season of 2016 and 2017. In June 2000,

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

General Elisha Marshall's crypt was desecrated and vandalized, resulting in his remains being scattered throughout the surrounding area. Marshall's bodily remains were gathered and reinterred, however, the whereabouts of the skull remains a mystery. The perpetrators were never apprehended or identified. For years it has been a tradition during elections for people, mostly women, to place "I Voted" stickers on the gravestone of Women's rights activist, Susan B. Anthony. In 2016, 10,000 people were estimated to visit the gravesite during the notable election of having the first woman, Hillary Clinton, running for president on a major party ticket. The headstone was damaged by the residue left by the stickers. As a result, in anticipation of visitors for the 2020 election, Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery placed a clear Plexiglass sleeve to protect the site from further damage.

Notable burials

* Samuel G. Andrews *

* Charles S. Baker *

John Jacob Bausch John Jacob Bausch (born Johann Jakob Bausch; July 25, 1830 – February 14, 1926) was a German-American maker of optical instruments who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with Henry Lomb). Over six decades he transformed his small, local optical shop into ...

* Anita Bush * Hartwell Carver *

Jonathan Child Jonathan Child (January 30, 1785 – October 27, 1860) was an American businessman and politician. He was the first Mayor of Rochester, New York and son-in-law of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester. Early life Child was born in New Hampshire, and in ...

* Emma Lampert Cooper *

Adelaide Crapsey Adelaide Crapsey (September 9, 1878 – October 8, 1914) was an American poet. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Rochester, New York. Her parents were the businesswoman Adelaide T. Crapsey and the Episcopal priest Algernon Sidney ...

* Algernon Crapsey *

Thomas B. Dunn Thomas Byrne Dunn (March 16, 1853 in Providence, Rhode Island – July 2, 1924 in Rochester, Monroe County, New York) was an American businessman and politician. Life He moved with his parents to Rochester, N.Y., in 1858. He founded and was Pr ...

George Ellwanger George Ellwanger (December 2, 1816 – November 26, 1906) was a German-American horticulture scientist. Early life Ellwanger was born in Großheppach, Kingdom of Württemberg on December 2, 1816, and emigrated to the United States in 1835. He ...

Frank Gannett Frank Ernest Gannett (September 15, 1876 – December 3, 1957) was an American publisher who founded the media corporation Gannett Company. He began his career in 1906 as half owner of the ''Elmira Gazette''. He soon added newspapers in Ithaca, ...

Malcolm Glazer Malcolm Irving Glazer (August 15, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American businessman and sports team owner. He was the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, ...

* Morton Goldberg *

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor, producer, and writer. Green's film debut came with a role in the comedy-drama film '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supportin ...

* James Hard *

Myron Holley Myron Holley (April 29, 1779 Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut – March 4, 1841 Rochester, Monroe County, New York) was an American politician who had a large part in the construction of the Erie Canal. Life Holley was the son of Lut ...

* Rev. Thomas James * Thomas Kempshall * Henry Lomb * General E.G. Marshall * Vincent Mathews *

Lewis Henry Morgan Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evol ...

* Anna Murray Douglass *

Henry O'Reilly Henry O'Reilly (February 6, 1806 – August 17, 1886) was an Irish-American businessman and telegraphy pioneer. Early life O'Reilly was born in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland. He emigrated with his father to New York City in 1816, wher ...

Jane Marsh Parker Jane Marsh Parker (, Marsh; pen name, Jenny Marsh Parker; June 16, 1836 – March 13, 1913) was an American author and historian of the long nineteenth century. She was a frequent contributor to ''The Churchman'' and other publications of the Pro ...

Amy and Isaac Post Isaac and Amy Post, were radical Hicksite Quakers from Rochester, New York, and leaders in the nineteenth-century anti-slavery and women's rights movements. Among the first believers in Spiritualism, they helped to associate the young religious ...

Charles Mulford Robinson Charles Mulford Robinson (1869–1917) was a journalist and a writer who became famous as a pioneering urban planning theorist. He has the greatest influence as a missionary for urban beautification. He was the first Professor for Civic Design at U ...

* Nathaniel Rochester * Thomas H. Rochester * Abraham M. Schermerhorn * George B. Selden *

Henry R. Selden Henry Rogers Selden (October 14, 1805 – September 18, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1857 to 1858. He defended Susan B. Anthony in her 1873 trial for unlawfully voting as a woman.Alan D ...

Hiram Sibley Hiram W. Sibley (February 6, 1807 – July 12, 1888), was an American industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who was a pioneer of the telegraph in the United States. Early life Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts on February 6 ...

* Elijah F. Smith * Lucy J. Sprague * Fletcher Steele * Margaret Woodbury Strong * Theron R. Strong * Samuel R. Thayer * Lillian Wald *

Henry Augustus Ward Henry Augustus Ward (March 9, 1834 – July 4, 1906) was an Americans, American naturalist and geologist. Biography Henry Augustus Ward was born in Rochester, New York on March 9, 1834. After attending Williams College and the Lawrence Scientif ...

William Warfield William Caesar Warfield (January 22, 1920 – August 25, 2002) was an American concert bass-baritone singer and actor, known for his appearances in stage productions, Hollywood films, and television programs. A prominent African American artist ...

* Don Alonzo Watson * Jessica M. Weis *

George Whipple George Hoyt Whipple (August 28, 1878 – February 1, 1976) was an American physician, pathologist, biomedical researcher, and medical school educator and administrator. Whipple shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934 with George ...

Frederick Whittlesey Frederick Whittlesey (June 12, 1799 – September 19, 1851) was a U.S. Representative from New York, cousin of Elisha Whittlesey and Thomas Tucker Whittlesey. Born in New Preston, Connecticut, Whittlesey pursued academic studies. He graduated ...

Abel Carter Wilder Abel Carter Wilder (March 18, 1828 – December 22, 1875) was a U.S. Representative from Kansas. Biography Born in Mendon, Massachusetts, Wilder completed preparatory studies and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He moved to Rochester, New Yor ...

General Elwell Stephen Otis was originally interred at Mount Hope before being removed to

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. Notable cremations at Mount Hope include Blanche Stuart Scott and

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the 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.

References

External links

Mount Hope Cemetery

Reforest Mount Hope

Volunteer At Mount Hope

The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Geography of Rochester, New York History of Rochester, New York Cemeteries in Monroe County, New York Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Rochester, New York Rural cemeteries Tourist attractions in Rochester, New York Buildings and structures in Rochester, New York