Riverside Cemetery is a cemetery located in

Fairhaven, Massachusetts Fairhaven (Massachusett: ) is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor wit ...

at 274 Main Street. Laid out in the rural style, it was established in 1850 by Warren Delano II, the grandfather of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

History

By the late 1840s Fairhaven's old burial ground, established in 1771 and later known as the Railroad Cemetery, could no longer accommodate the increasing population of the town which had become a center for shipping and the whale industry. In addition, the

Fairhaven Branch Railroad The Fairhaven Branch Railroad was a short line railroad, short-line railroad in Massachusetts. It ran from West Wareham, Massachusetts, West Wareham on the Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Cape Cod main line of the Old Colony Railroad, southwest to Fairha ...

was being planned which would require closing part of the old burial ground. Warren Delano II purchased 14 acres of farm land in 1847 which was destined for the building of a new cemetery and gifted it to the town of Fairhaven. The cemetery was consecrated on July 7, 1850 with 1000 people in attendance. The first burial there was Mary Evans Delano who had died at the age of 15. When the railway came to the town in the mid-1850s, half of the bodies in the Railroad Cemetery were moved to Riverside. Eventually, all the remaining bodies there were re-interred at Riverside. A sexton's cottage was built in 1881 and is one of the rare examples of the Eastlake architectural style in the area. Delano purchased a further five acres of farmland in 1889 to enlarge the cemetery. In 1893, Frances Mills was the first African-American to be buried there.Harris, Charles A. (1947)
''Old-Time Fairhaven''
pp. 221–222; 244–245; 249. Reynolds Printing

Massachusetts Historical Commission The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is a review board for state and federal preservation programs for the United States state of Massachusetts. It consists of 17-member panel of appointed representatives from state and private agencies and ...

(1981)
MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Fairhaven
p. 11 The cemetery was enlarged again in 1905 and now encompasses 44 acres. It is run as a charitable corporation and has also incorporated Naskatucket Cemetery, another 18th century burial ground in Fairhaven.

Notable burials and monuments

A monument designed by George F. Meacham to commemorate the soldiers and sailors from Fairhaven who had died in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

was erected in the cemetery in 1868. Twenty members of the

Delano family In the United States, members of the Delano family include U.S. presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Its progenitor is Philippe de Lannoy (1602� ...

, including Warren Delano I and Warren Delano II, are buried in the Delano family tomb. The tomb was erected in 1859 and designed by

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

.Riverside Cemetery and Crematorium
A Brief History of Riverside Cemetery
Retrieved 9 February 2018.

Henry Huttleston Rogers Henry Huttleston Rogers (January 29, 1840 – May 19, 1909) was an American industrialist and financier. He made his fortune in the oil refining business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil. He also played a major role in numerous corporations a ...

, his wife Abbie G. Rogers, and three of their children are interred in a mausoleum erected in 1893 which was designed by

Charles Brigham Charles Brigham (June 21, 1841 – July 1925) was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts. Life Brigham was born, raised, and educated in Watertown, Massachusetts schools and graduated at age 15 in 1856 in the first class of Wa ...

after an ancient temple to

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...

. Other notable burials include: * William Bradford (1823–1892), artist and photographer *

William Howell Forbes William Howell Forbes (November 25, 1837 – July 10, 1896) was an American businessman in Hong Kong. He was the head partner of the Russell & Co. and was the 11th chairman of the board of Directors of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation f ...

(1837–1896), businessman and uncle of

* William Foster Nye (1824–1910), founder of a lubricating oil business still in existence today and known as

Nye Lubricants Nye Lubricants, Inc. is a manufacturer of industrial lubricants. It formulates, manufactures, and sells synthetic lubricants, thermal coupling compounds, index-matching optical gels, and fluids. Nye supplies the automotive, computer printer, di ...

. *

Warren Delano Robbins Warren Delano Robbins (September 3, 1885 – April 7, 1935) was an American diplomat and first cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as Chief of Protocol of the United States from 1931 to 1933 and as the U.S. Minister to El S ...

(1885–1935), diplomat and first cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. *

Noah Stoddard Captain Noah Stoddard (1755–1850) of Fairhaven, Massachusetts was an American privateer who distinguished himself during the American Revolution by leading the Raid on Lunenburg (1782). In the raid, Stoddard led four other privateer vessels and a ...

(1755–1850),

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

who distinguished himself during the American Revolution * George W. Weymouth (1850–1910),

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Massachusetts * William H. Whitfield (1804–1886), the sea captain who rescued

Nakahama Manjirō , also known as John Manjirō (or John Mung), was one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States and an important translator during the Opening of Japan.* Voyage to America During his early life, he lived as a simple fisherman in ...

from a shipwreck in 1841 and supervised his education in Fairhaven.

References

External links

* * {{Find a Grave cemetery , id= 91515, name= Riverside Cemetery 1850 establishments in Massachusetts Cemeteries in Bristol County, Massachusetts Fairhaven, Massachusetts Cemeteries established in the 1850s