Landscape Information
Located approximately two miles southwest of downtown, this irregularly shaped cemetery was established in 1902 as a nonsectarian burial ground and was designed by landscape and civil engineer Garnet Douglass Baltimore. Nestled between Delaware Avenue and Normans Kill creek, the topographically varied site covers 196 acres, 33 of which are developed.
Accessed from Delaware Avenue by way of an iron gate that is flanked by stone pillars and a specimen beech tree, curvilinear drives wind through the cemetery’s relatively level, northern portion. The drives frame irregularly shaped sections laid out with ordered rows of erect burial markers and are edged by deciduous canopy trees—including oak, maple, and catalpa—and also coniferous varieties. A granite receiving vault, designed by Garnet Baltimore in the late Victorian style, is sited on axis with the entrance gate, and is intended to command a visitor’s attention upon arrival. To the southwest is a modest, circular lawn that features graves situated around a central flagpole and an ornamental bench dedicated to veterans of the Spanish-American War.
Further south, the cemetery narrows and a curvilinear drive navigates a steep hill, affording wide-ranging western views. At the base of the hill the drive forms a loop, and lawns radiate outward to meet densely canopied woodlands that screen the nearby creek from view. The receiving vault was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2024 and was noted for its significant design and association with its creator, Baltimore.
