The Rural Cemetery Movement
With rapidly growing urban populations in the mid-1800’s, it was important to develop healthy, green, spaces for city dwellers. The Rural Cemetery Movement encouraged American cities to use cemetery space as multi-functional space for leisure, recreation, environmental preservation, and for healthy burial practices (Lundgren). "In a country sorely lacking in public green spaces, these cemeteries provided these graceful, elegant places…They were all around recreational and artistic centers for people. They became seen as major urban amenities” (Williams). The Rural Cemetery Movement greatly expanded green urban space during the mid-1800’s and was instrumental in the development of the Urban Parks Movement. …show more content…
“The early 19th-century cemeteries in New York were the subject of special study by the Board of Health—small wonder since the graveyard at Trinity Church alone held the remains of about 100,000 people…” (Lundgren). Trinity, like many church burial grounds throughout New England would flood after storms. Because of this flooding, outbreaks of communicable diseases like typhoid and cholera were common (Williams). The residents of New Haven, Connecticut saw the Basil Hall Rural Cemetery or New Burying Ground as a vast improvement over its old “soppy churchyard, where the mourners sink ankle deep in a rank and offensive mould, mixed with broken bones and fragments of coffin” (French 45). The Rural Cemetery Movement “not only temporarily solved the problem of where to put the dead, but it also gave us the nation’s very first parks…cemeteries have tremendous potential to meet the demand for open space” …show more content…
It helped to develop healthy, green spaces for city dwellers. The Rural Cemetery Movement encouraged American cities to use cemetery space for more than internment. It was all about using this green space for multiple uses including leisure, recreation, and environmental preservation. Works Cited
Bender, Thomas. “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement: Urban Travail and the Appeal of Nature.”
The New England Quarterly 47.2 (Jun. 1974): 196-211. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
“Burial Customs and Cemeteries in American History.” National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places, 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
French, Stanley. “The Cemetery as Cultural Institution: The Establishment of Mount Auburn and the ‘Rural Cemetery’ Movement.” American Quarterly 26.1 (Mar. 1974): 37-59.
Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Lundgren, Burden S. and Clare A. Houseman. “Banishing Death: The Disappearance Of The
Appreciation Of Mortality.” Omega: Journal of Death & Dying 61.3 (2010).
Professional Development Collection. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Mahoney, Patrick. “The American ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement and Hartford’s Cedar Hill.”
Hartford Historic Places Examiner. AXS Digital Group, LLC, 2015. Web. 28 Sept.
With rapidly growing urban populations in the mid-1800’s, it was important to develop healthy, green, spaces for city dwellers. The Rural Cemetery Movement encouraged American cities to use cemetery space as multi-functional space for leisure, recreation, environmental preservation, and for healthy burial practices (Lundgren). "In a country sorely lacking in public green spaces, these cemeteries provided these graceful, elegant places…They were all around recreational and artistic centers for people. They became seen as major urban amenities” (Williams). The Rural Cemetery Movement greatly expanded green urban space during the mid-1800’s and was instrumental in the development of the Urban Parks Movement. …show more content…
“The early 19th-century cemeteries in New York were the subject of special study by the Board of Health—small wonder since the graveyard at Trinity Church alone held the remains of about 100,000 people…” (Lundgren). Trinity, like many church burial grounds throughout New England would flood after storms. Because of this flooding, outbreaks of communicable diseases like typhoid and cholera were common (Williams). The residents of New Haven, Connecticut saw the Basil Hall Rural Cemetery or New Burying Ground as a vast improvement over its old “soppy churchyard, where the mourners sink ankle deep in a rank and offensive mould, mixed with broken bones and fragments of coffin” (French 45). The Rural Cemetery Movement “not only temporarily solved the problem of where to put the dead, but it also gave us the nation’s very first parks…cemeteries have tremendous potential to meet the demand for open space” …show more content…
It helped to develop healthy, green spaces for city dwellers. The Rural Cemetery Movement encouraged American cities to use cemetery space for more than internment. It was all about using this green space for multiple uses including leisure, recreation, and environmental preservation. Works Cited
Bender, Thomas. “The ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement: Urban Travail and the Appeal of Nature.”
The New England Quarterly 47.2 (Jun. 1974): 196-211. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
“Burial Customs and Cemeteries in American History.” National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places, 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
French, Stanley. “The Cemetery as Cultural Institution: The Establishment of Mount Auburn and the ‘Rural Cemetery’ Movement.” American Quarterly 26.1 (Mar. 1974): 37-59.
Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Lundgren, Burden S. and Clare A. Houseman. “Banishing Death: The Disappearance Of The
Appreciation Of Mortality.” Omega: Journal of Death & Dying 61.3 (2010).
Professional Development Collection. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
Mahoney, Patrick. “The American ‘Rural’ Cemetery Movement and Hartford’s Cedar Hill.”
Hartford Historic Places Examiner. AXS Digital Group, LLC, 2015. Web. 28 Sept.