The Cortland Rural Cemetery is located in

Cortland, New York Cortland is a city and the county seat of Cortland County, New York, United States. Known as the Crown City, Cortland is in New York's Southern Tier region. As of 2024, the estimated population of Cortland, New York, is 17,196, reflecting a dec ...

, United States. A non-profit, non-denominational

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

established in 1853, the still operational cemetery has a physical footprint of approximately and features the attributes typical of the mid-19th century garden cemetery or

rural cemetery A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-19th century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries, which tended to be churchyards. Rural cemeter ...

, including rolling hills, copious trees, curving roads, and an overall asymmetrical design. The cemetery is regulated by the New York State Department of State NYS Division of Cemeteries and as such has the special designation of 501(c)(13) reserved by independent, non-profit cemeteries in New York. It is managed by a volunteer Board of Trustees and funds its operations with a combination of revenues from operations such as burial fees, plot sales income, and marker foundation installation fees, ongoing donations from Cortland Rural Cemetery Foundation, and donations received from individual donors, other foundations, and in-kind assistance from the City of Cortland. Adjacent to the

State University of New York at Cortland The State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY Cortland, C-State, or Cortland State) is a public university in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The State Univ ...

, located at 110 Tompkins Street, and an included in the Tompkins Street–Main Street Historic District on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, the cemetery has over 19,000 individual graves on its grounds, including those of many notable figures in Cortland's history. The cemetery's grounds also include noteworthy historical architectural structures, including the Gibson Memorial Chapel designed (circa 1922) by noted architect George W. Conable and an office/garage and superintendent's mansion designed by Carl Wesley Clark (circa 1928). The cemetery has dedicated Veterans sections and is also home to a decades-old Jewish Cemetery associated with Cortland's Temple Brith Sholom.

Notable burials

Sorted by surname. * Bertha Blodgett, author of Stories of Cortland County for Boys and Girls, 1932. * William L. Chaplin, general agent of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

* Major General Levi R. Chase, highly decorated US Air Force officer and veteran of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam * Rowland Lucius Davis, NYS Supreme Court Justice. * Charles Holland Duell, Member of New York State Assembly, U.S. Commissioner of Patents. * Rodolphus Holland Duell, Cortland County Judge and U.S. Representative. * Major Andrew J. Grover, commander of the 76th Regiment of the New York Volunteers, killed at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. * Nathan Lewis Miller, former governor of New York. * Rufus T. Peck, publisher and New York assemblyman. * Henry S. Randall, New York Secretary of State and biographer of Thomas Jefferson. * Joseph Reynolds, US Congressman. * Charles Walton Sanders, author of a popular, mid-1800s school reader series. * Chester and Theodore Wickwire, late 19th century Cortland industrialists.

Gallery

File:Cortland_Rural_Cemetery_-_1.JPG , Hill-top view looking South toward Tompkins Street File:Cortland_Rural_Cemetery_-_3.jpg , One of numerous large markers in the cemetery, this one marks the grave of Chauncey Keator

References

*{{cite news, last=Wilde, first=Catherine, title=Cemetery seeking funding, support Cortland Rural Cemetery presents county with plan that includes art walks and concerts, url=http://cortlandstandard.net/articles/10182013n.html, newspaper=Cortland Standard, date=October 18, 2013

External links

Cortland Rural Cemetery official siteCortland Rural Cemetery official Facebook page

Not-for-Profit Cemeteries by Alphabetical Order
New York Department of State (pdf)

(Cortland Rural Cemetery Association booklet, 1911)

(2013) Cemeteries in Cortland County, New York Protected areas of Cortland County, New York Historic district contributing properties in New York (state)