Springfield Cemetery is located in the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

Valley city of

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

. The cemetery opened in 1841 and was planned on the model of a

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 ...

. With the relocation of remains from the city's earliest burying ground, the cemetery became the final resting place for many of Springfield's 17th and 18th century pioneer settlers.

History

The Springfield Cemetery was designed in the landscaped tradition of the

, evoking a pastoral, garden environment in an urban setting. The cemetery is located on a plot of land once owned by Martha Ferre and known as ‘Martha’s Dingle’. A dingle is a small wooded valley, a dell. The land was purchased from Alexander Bliss on May 28, 1841 for the purpose of establishing the cemetery. The first burial occurred on September 6, 1841, Early in its history the cemetery was also known as ‘Peabody Cemetery’, in recognizer of one of its founders, Rev. William Peabody, a local Unitarian minister. In 1848 the remains of Springfield's earliest European settlers were transferred to the cemetery from the Old Burying Ground by the Connecticut River. Relocated remains included those of Mary Holyoke, daughter of William Pynchon, known as the founder of Springfield.

Chapel and columbarium

The Dorcas Chapin Chapel was constructed in 1885 with funds donated by the wife of Chester W. Chapin. Designed in the English Gothic style, the chapel contains stained glass windows created by the L.C. Tiffany Company and provides a seating capacity for fifty.

Soldier's Rest, Civil War monument

Soldier's Rest is a Civil War monument that was dedicated in 1877 and depicts a Union private at rest. The funds used to commission the monument were raised by women of the city who, in 1862, had developed the Soldier’s Rest Association to support the needs of soldiers, returning veterans and their families. The statue stands above the Soldiers plot, with graves both at its base and more below a descending slope. At least 200 Civil War soldiers are buried in the cemetery.

Notable burials

* George Ashmun, U.S. Congressman, member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, lawyer * James Barnes, Brigidier General, Union Army, Civil War *

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with Milton Bradley Company, his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased ...

, businessman, considered a pioneer of the

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

industry, founder of the

Milton Bradley Company Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American board game manufacturer established by Milton Bradley (1836-1911) in Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production o ...

* Andrew Symmes Bryant, Civil War Congressional

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient * Thornton Waldo Burgess, conservationist, author, journalist *

William Barron Calhoun William Barron Calhoun (December 29, 1796 – November 8, 1865) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Early life Calhoun, the eldest child of Andrew Calhoun and Martha (Chamberlain) Calhoun, was born on December 29, 1796, in Boston, Ma ...

, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts * Calvin Clifford Chaffee, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts, ardent slavery abolitionist * Chester W. Chapin, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts, businessman * Thomas Dwight, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts * Chester Harding, portrait painter of prominent 19th century Americans * Josiah Gilbert Holland, novelist, poet and newspaper editor * Samuel Knox, U.S. Congressman from Missouri *

F. O. Matthiessen Francis Otto Matthiessen (February 19, 1902 – April 1, 1950) was an educator, scholar, and literary critic, influential in the fields of American literature and American studies. His best known work, ''American Renaissance: Art and Expression ...

, Harvard professor, literary critic, author of ’’American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman’’ * Horace A. Moses, industrialist and philanthropist, co-founder of

Junior Achievement JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization. It was founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential ...

* Everett Peabody, Colonel, Union Army, Civil War * Charles Francis Rice, Methodist Episcopal Minister, son of William Rice * Edward Hyde Rice, Educator, son of William Rice * William Rice, Methodist Episcopal minister, Springfield City Librarian * James Wolfe Ripley, Brigadier General, Union Army, Civil War * Charles Louis Seeger, Jr.,

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

, composer, university instructor, father of

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

* Ruth Crawford Seeger, singer, songwriter, political activist, stepmother of

* Horace Smith, inventor, industrialist * Elizabeth Towne, writer, publisher * Mark Trafton, U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts

Gallery

Civil War Soldier Monument, Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, MA - January 2016.JPG, Soldier’s Rest Civil War monument (1877) Cemetery Avenue Springfield Mass 1905.jpg, Cemetery Avenue approach to the gate (1905) Springfield Cemetery Entrance 1905.jpg, Cemetery gate (1905) Springfield Cemetery 1900-1906.jpg, Cemetery grounds (1900–1906) Springfield Cemetery Soldiers Plot 1900-1910.jpg, Soldiers plot & Soldier’s Rest monument Morgan Family Monument (Seated Maiden by Henri Chapu), Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, MA 01.jpg, Morgan family monument by Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu (approx. 1877–1891) Josiah Gilbert Holland Monument (by Augustus Saint-Gaudens), Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, MA.jpg, Josiah Gilbert Holland monument by

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculpture, sculptor of the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin to an Iris ...

(1881) Fuller Family Monument (by Heinrich Waderé), Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, MA.jpg, Monument in memory of Winthrop and Elizabeth Bliss Fuller, sculpted by Heinrich Waderé (installed 1910)

Location

The main entrance to the Springfield Cemetery is located at 171 Maple Street, Springfield, MA

References

{{Authority control Cemeteries in Hampden County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Springfield, Massachusetts 1841 establishments in Massachusetts 19th century in Springfield, Massachusetts Rural cemeteries Cemeteries established in the 1840s