The "Sedgwick Pie" is one of the more unusual family cemetery plots in the United States. It is the family burial plot of the Sedgwick family in Stockbridge Cemetery, Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...

, and gets its nickname from its shape and layout.

Description

The burial sites are arranged around the graves of Theodore Sedgwick

Theodore Sedgwick

Theodore Sedgwick was an attorney, politician and jurist, who served in elected state government and as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, a US Representative, and a United States Senator from Massachusetts. He served as the fifth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives...

 (1746–1813), patriarch of the very prominent Sedgwick family of New England and a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...

 (among other positions), and his wife, Pamela Dwight Sedgwick (1753–1807). The graves of the others, who include in-laws, servants, and family pets, form concentric circles around the center, with the buried grouped by familial affiliation, and laid to rest with their feet toward the center. This contrasts with the orientation of the other graves in the cemetery, which (in classic fashion) face east, toward the rising sun, Jerusalem (with all its significance

Religious significance of Jerusalem

The city of Jerusalem, located in modern-day Israel, is significant in a number of religious traditions, including Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which consider it a holy city.-In Judaism:...

), and the hoped-for Resurrection

Resurrection

Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...

. It has been said that this arrangement of the graves sees to it that on the Judgment Day

Last Judgment

The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...

, when the dead are raised, the Sedgwicks will only have to look at other Sedgwicks.

"The Pie" has become something of an attraction for those interested in unusual cemetery plots, grave tours, and the like.

Occupants

Notable persons buried in the Pie include:

• Theodore Sedgwick
  Theodore Sedgwick
  Theodore Sedgwick was an attorney, politician and jurist, who served in elected state government and as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, a US Representative, and a United States Senator from Massachusetts. He served as the fifth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives...
  
   (1746–1813)
• Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) (c.1742-1829)
• Catharine Sedgwick
  Catharine Sedgwick
  Catharine Maria Sedgwick , was an American novelist of what is now referred to as "domestic fiction". She promoted Republican motherhood.-Biography:...
  
   (1789–1867)
• Henry Dwight Sedgwick
  Henry Dwight Sedgwick
  Henry Dwight Sedgwick III was an American lawyer and author.-Early life and career:Sedgwick was in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the second child of Henry Dwight Sedgwick II and Henrietta Ellery . On his paternal grandmother's side, he was part of the New England Dwight family...
  
   (1861–1957)
• Ellery Sedgwick
  Ellery Sedgwick
  Ellery Sedgwick was an American editor, brother of Henry Dwight Sedgwick.-Early life:He was born in New York City to Henry Dwight Sedgwick II and Henrietta Ellery , grand daughter of William Ellery...
  
   (1872–1960)
• Brig Gen William Ross Bond (1918-1970)

A key to the graves and their occupants may be found at http://www.sedgwick.org/na/library/cemetery/ma.berkshire.stockbridge/SedgwickStockbridgePlot.html

Cultural references

The Pie is the first topic of discussion in Edie: American Girl, by Jean Stein and George Plimpton (Knopf, 1982). The book is a discussion of the life and career of Edie Sedgwick

Edie Sedgwick

Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...

who, although a member of the family, is not buried there.