Forestdale Cemetery is a public secular cemetery located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The cemetery was officially organized on November 1, 1860, after a town meeting[a] in October of that year designated a sum of $1,500 (approx. $41,000 2016 USD)[1] for the purchase of land; contributions for this land came from the Holyoke Water Power Company as well as local mills, with the acquisitions presided over by Jones S. Davis, engineer of Lyman Mills.[2] The cemetery acquisitions were completed and dedicated on June 22, 1862 with speeches by Amherst professor J.G. Voss and one of Holyoke's founding figures, George C. Ewing.[3] The cemetery, built during a time of great interest in landscape architecture, contains a deliberately chosen layout of ornamental trees and shrubs.[4]
In addition to the many founding families of Holyoke, the cemetery is the resting place of many of the city's mayors and city officials, including William Whiting II and Roswell P. Crafts. Serving as a common burial ground for all citizens, it also contains a potter's field for indigents.[4]
Notable burials
- Lettie S. Bigelow, poet and author
- Roswell P. Crafts
- William Whiting II
Gallery
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The cemetery's holding tomb, built soon after the American Civil War -
The Skinner family monument -
Farr family headstone -
The Whiting family tomb
Notes
- ^ A city council did not exist at this time as Holyoke was not incorporated as a city until 1874
References
- ^ Westegg Inflation Calculator
- ^ "Holyoke". History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. Vol. II. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts; Press of J.B. Lippincott and Co. 1879. p. 928. OCLC 866692568.
- ^ Holyoke, Past and Present, 1745–1895. The Transcript Publishing Co. 1895. p. 120. OCLC 11107520.
- ^ a b Clark, Rusty (2006). Stories Carved in Stone: Holyoke, Massachusetts. West Springfield: Dog Pond Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0975536261.