Forest Hills Cemetery
Encyclopedia
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
, greenspace, arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
located in the Forest Hills
Forest Hills, Boston
Forest Hills is a part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.-Overview:As the name indicates, Forest Hills is characterized by hilly terrain and wooded areas within and adjacent to its borders...
section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery was designed in 1848.
Overview
The cemetery has a number of interesting or impressive monuments, including some by famous sculptors. Among these are Daniel Chester FrenchDaniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...
's Death Staying the Hand of the Sculptor.
Grandpa R was buried here. He was a metal sculptor
History
On March 28, 1848, Roxbury City Council (the municipal board in charge of the area at that time) gave an order for the purchase of the farms of the Seaverns family to establish a rural municipal park cemetery.Inspired by the Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...
, Forest Hills Cemetery was designed by Alexander Dearborn to provide a park-like setting to bury and remember family and friends. In the year the cemetery was established, another 14½ acres were purchased from John Parkinson. This made for a little more than 71 acres (287,327.1 m²) at a cost of $27,894. The area was later increased to 225 acre (0.9105435 km²). In 1893, a crematorium was added to the cemetery, along with other features like a scattering garden, an indoor columbarium
Columbarium
A columbarium is a place for the respectful and usually public storage of cinerary urns . The term comes from the Latin columba and originally referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons .The Columbarium of Pomponius Hylas is a particularly fine ancient Roman example, rich in...
and an outdoor columbarium. In 1927, anarchists Nicola Sacco
Sacco and Vanzetti
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States...
and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Sacco and Vanzetti
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts, United States...
were cremated here after their execution; their ashes were later returned to Italy.
Notable persons interred at Forest Hills
- Rufus AndersonRufus AndersonRufus Anderson was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.-Life:Rufus Anderson was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on August 17, 1796. His father, also named Rufus Anderson, was Congregationalist pastor of the church in North Yarmouth. His mother was Hannah...
, missionary and author - Charles Hiller InnesCharles Hiller InnesCharles Hiller Innes was a lawyer and politician who led the Massachusetts Republican Party during the 1910s and 1920s.-Life:...
, Massachusetts Politician - Hugh BancroftBancroft familyThe Bancroft family are the former owners of Dow Jones & Company — publishers of the Wall Street Journal — which is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation .- The family :...
, president of The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal.... - Clarence W. BarronClarence W. BarronClarence W. Barron is one of the most influential figures in the history of Dow Jones & Company. As a career newsman described as a "short, rotund powerhouse," he died holding the posts of president of Dow Jones and de facto manager of The Wall Street Journal...
, president of Dow Jones & CompanyDow Jones & CompanyDow Jones & Company is an American publishing and financial information firm.The company was founded in 1882 by three reporters: Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. Like The New York Times and the Washington Post, the company was in recent years publicly traded but privately... - James Freeman ClarkeJames Freeman ClarkeJames Freeman Clarke , an American theologian and author.-Biography:Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, James Freeman Clarke attended the Boston Latin School, graduated from Harvard College in 1829, and Harvard Divinity School in 1833...
, author - Channing H. CoxChanning H. CoxChanning Harris Cox was a Massachusetts Republican politician and the 49th Governor of Massachusetts born in Manchester, New Hampshire....
, Governor of MassachusettsGovernor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
(1921–1925) - E. E. CummingsE. E. CummingsEdward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
, poet and artist - Fanny DavenportFanny DavenportFanny Lily Gipsy Davenport was an English-American stage actress. The daughter of Edward Loomis Davenport and Fanny Vining, she was born in London, England, but was brought to America when a child and educated in the Boston public schools...
, actress - William DawesWilliam DawesWilliam Dawes, Jr. was one of several men and a woman who alerted colonial minutemen of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution....
(possible), tanner and American colonial minuteman - William DwightWilliam DwightWilliam Dwight, Jr. , was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Early life:William Dwight was born July 14, 1831 in Springfield, Massachusetts...
(1831–1888), general in American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25... - Eugene N. Foss, Governor of MassachusettsGovernor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
(1911–1914) - William Lloyd GarrisonWilliam Lloyd GarrisonWilliam Lloyd Garrison was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, he promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United...
, abolitionistAbolitionismAbolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first... - William GastonWilliam Gaston (Massachusetts)William Gaston was the 29th Governor of Massachusetts in 1875-1876.William Gaston had established a successful legal practice in the City of Roxbury, Massachusetts before entering politics. He served as a Representative in the State Legislature , as Roxbury's City Solicitor , and as its Mayor...
, Governor of MassachusettsGovernor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
(1875–1876) - Kahlil Gibran (1922–2008), Sculptor
- Curtis Guild, Governor of MassachusettsGovernor of MassachusettsThe Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
(1906–1909) - Edward Everett HaleEdward Everett HaleEdward Everett Hale was an American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman. He was a child prodigy who exhibited extraordinary literary skills and at age thirteen was enrolled at Harvard University where he graduated second in his class...
, author - William HeathWilliam HeathWilliam Heath was an American farmer, soldier, and political leader from Massachusetts who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War....
, general in American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the... - Karl HeinzenKarl HeinzenKarl Peter Heinzen was a revolutionary author who resided mainly in Germany and the United States. He was one of the German Forty-Eighters.-Biography:...
, author - Faik KonicaFaik KonicaFaik Konica , born in Konitsa, was one of the greatest figures of Albanian culture in the early decades of the twentieth century. Prewar Albanian minister to Washington, his literary review, Albania, became the focal publication of Albanian writers living abroad...
, Albanian thinker, writer, journalist, politician - Reggie LewisReggie LewisReggie Lewis was an American professional basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics from 1987 to 1993.-Early life:...
, basketball player for Boston CelticsBoston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which... - Francis Cabot Lowell, after whom Lowell, MassachusettsLowell, MassachusettsLowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 106,519. It is the fourth largest city in the state. Lowell and Cambridge are the county seats of Middlesex County...
is named - John LowellJohn Lowell (judge)John Lowell was a United States federal judge from Boston, Massachusetts. He was appointed to separate judgeships by Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Rutherford B. Hayes.-Family:...
, Federal judge - Martin MilmoreMartin MilmoreMartin Milmore was a noted American sculptor.Milmore immigrated to Boston from Sligo, Ireland at age seven, graduated from Boston Latin School in 1860, took art lessons at the Lowell Institute, and learned to carve in wood and stone from his older brother Joseph...
, sculptor - Theofan S. NoliFan S. NoliTheofan Stilian Noli, better known as Fan Noli was an Albanian-American writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church, who served as prime minister and regent of Albania in 1924.Fan Noli is venerated in Albania as a champion of literature,...
, Bishop, Prime Minister of AlbaniaAlbaniaAlbania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea... - Eugene O'NeillEugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
, playwright - Anne SextonAnne SextonAnne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
, poet - Lysander SpoonerLysander SpoonerLysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, political philosopher, Deist, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, legal theorist, and entrepreneur of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S...
, early American libertarian, abolitionist, writer, anarchist - Lucy StoneLucy StoneLucy Stone was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist, and a vocal advocate and organizer promoting rights for women. In 1847, Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She spoke out for women's rights and against slavery at a time when women were discouraged...
, suffragist - Joseph WarrenJoseph WarrenDr. Joseph Warren was an American doctor who played a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston in early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as president of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress...
, physician and patriot, killed at Battle of Bunker HillBattle of Bunker HillThe Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War... - John A. Winslow, admiral in American Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
- Jacob WirthJacob WirthThe Jacob Wirth Restaurant is a historic German-American restaurant and bar in Boston, Massachusetts at 31-39 Stuart Street, founded in 1868.The Greek Revival building housing the restaurant was constructed in 1844. The German style restaurant was founded in 1868 and is the second oldest operating...
, restaurateur - R. L. R., Metal Sculptor and Manufacturer
Further reading
- Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell, Forest Hills Cemetery, Arcadia Publishing, Images of America series, 2009
External links
- Forest Hills Cemetery official site
- Forest Hills Educational Trust
- Photos of Forest Hills Cemetery
- Heart of the City article and photos