Mount Hope Cemetery is a municipal cemetery in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, United States. Founded in 1838, it is the burial site of Susan B. Anthony and

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

. Situated on of land adjacent to the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

on Mount Hope Avenue, the cemetery is the permanent resting place of over 350,000 people. The annual growth rate of this cemetery is 500–600 burials per year. The cemetery hosts the sculpture ''Defenders of the Flag'', a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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.J ...

monument made in 1908 by the American sculptor Sally James Farnham. In 2018 it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Geology of Mount Hope

About 12,000 to 14,000 years ago, Mount Hope was covered with ice one to two miles thick. As the

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

receded, cracks appeared in the ice, and these crevasses became rivers of water and gravel. When the miles-high ice sheets finally melted, these river beds were left as ridges created from all the rock and rubble that had been deposited by the flowing river. In geological terms, these ridges are called

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...

s. One such esker snakes its way through much of Mount Hope Cemetery.

Notable structures and events

Mount Hope Cemetery was once the site of "The Fandango Tower." This was a wooden structure, sitting atop the highest elevation of the cemetery, acting as an observation tower. This offered visitors grand views of the city, as well as the meandering

Genesee River The Genesee River ( ) is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. The river contains several waterfalls in New York at Letchworth State Park and Roch ...

. The Fandango was involved in the "Great Rochester Mirage" of April 1871. Visitors to the tower noted on the morning of April 16, 1871, that views of the Canadian banks of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

could be seen from the tower in great detail, as if replacing those of Rochester. These views of Canada's lake shores, over 50 miles away, were indeed visible from The Fandango Tower, due to an atmospheric phenomena known as Fata Morgana. The Fandango Tower is no more, however the ruined foundations can still be found in one of the deep kettles of the cemetery to this day. The architectural styles of the cemetery's

gravestone A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The us ...

and grave markers, crypts, chapels, gatehouses, and

mausoleums A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the Chamber tomb, burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's Cadaver, remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be ...

span three centuries. Distinct motifs of the High Victorian Gothic and Neoclassical architectural traditions persist throughout the cemetery and its various structures.

Tiffany glass Tiffany glass refers to the many and varied types of glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1929–1930 at the Tiffany Studios in New York City, by Louis Comfort Tiffany and a team of other designers, including Clara Driscoll, Agnes F. Northr ...

windows may be found in several of the mausoleums. The cemetery contains two non-denominational chapels which the Friends group refers to by their construction dates: the 1862 Chapel and the 1912 Chapel. Neither has been used for decades and are closed to the public due to their structural deterioration although in 2020 a local contractor completed masonry stabilitzation work on the 1912 chapel. The cemetery is home to several working water features. Sylvan Waters, a water feature constructed within a naturally forming kettle pond, was remodeled and brought back into use during the Fall-Winter season of 2016 and 2017. In June 2000,

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

General Elisha Marshall's crypt was desecrated and vandalized, resulting in his remains being scattered throughout the surrounding area. Marshall's bodily remains were gathered and reinterred, however, the whereabouts of the skull remains a mystery. The perpetrators were never apprehended or identified. For years it has been a tradition during elections for people, mostly women, to place "I Voted" stickers on the gravestone of Women's rights activist, Susan B. Anthony. In 2016, 10,000 people were estimated to visit the gravesite during the notable election of having the first woman, Hillary Clinton, running for president on a major party ticket. The headstone was damaged by the residue left by the stickers. As a result, in anticipation of visitors for the 2020 election, Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery placed a clear Plexiglass sleeve to protect the site from further damage.

Notable burials

* Samuel G. Andrews * Susan B. Anthony * Charles S. Baker *

John Jacob Bausch John Jacob Bausch (born Johann Jakob Bausch; July 25, 1830 – February 14, 1926) was a German-American maker of optical instruments who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with Henry Lomb). Over six decades he transformed his small, local optical shop i ...

* Anita Bush * Hartwell Carver * Jonathan Child * Emma Lampert Cooper * Adelaide Crapsey * Algernon Crapsey *

* Thomas B. Dunn * George Ellwanger *

Frank Gannett Frank Ernest Gannett (September 15, 1876 – December 3, 1957) was an American publisher who founded the media corporation Gannett Company. He began his career in 1906 as half owner of the ''Elmira Gazette''. He soon added newspapers in Ithac ...

Malcolm Glazer Malcolm Glazer (August 15, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American businessman and sports team owner. He was the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, and own ...

* Morton Goldberg *

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor. His film debut was '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including '' Radio Days'' ( ...

* James Hard * Myron Holley * Rev. Thomas James * Thomas Kempshall * Alexander B. Lamberton *

Henry Lomb Henry Lomb (born Heinrich Lomb; – ) was a German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with John Jacob Bausch) and led a group of businessmen to found The Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of Rochester Institute of Technology. ...

* General E.G. Marshall * Vincent Mathews *

Lewis Henry Morgan Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social e ...

Anna Murray Douglass Anna Murray Douglass (1813 – August 4, 1882) was an American abolitionist, member of the Underground Railroad, and the first wife of American social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass, from 1838 to her death. Early life Anna Murray wa ...

* Henry O'Reilly * Jane Marsh Parker * Amy and Isaac Post * Charles Mulford Robinson *

Nathaniel Rochester Nathaniel Rochester (February 21, 1752 – May 17, 1831) was an American Revolutionary War soldier and land speculator, most noted for founding the settlement which would become Rochester, New York. Early life Nathaniel Rochester was the ...

* Thomas H. Rochester * Adolph J. Rodenbeck * Abraham M. Schermerhorn * George B. Selden * Henry R. Selden *

Hiram Sibley Hiram W. Sibley (February 6, 1807 – July 12, 1888), was an American industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who was a pioneer of the telegraph in the United States. Early life Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, on Februar ...

* Elijah F. Smith * Lucy J. Sprague *

Fletcher Steele John Fletcher Steele (June 7, 1885 – July 16, 1971) was an American landscape architect credited with designing and creating over 700 gardens from 1915 to the time of his death. Early life Steele was born in Rochester, New York, United Stat ...

* Margaret Woodbury Strong * Theron R. Strong * Samuel R. Thayer *

Lillian Wald Lillian D. Wald (March 10, 1867 – September 1, 1940) was an American nurse, humanitarian and author. She strove for human rights and started American community nursing. She founded the Henry Street Settlement in New York City and was an early ...

* Henry Augustus Ward *

William Warfield William Caesar Warfield (January 22, 1920 – August 25, 2002) was an American concert bass-baritone, known for his appearances in stage productions, Hollywood films, and television programs. A prominent African American artist during the Civil ...

* Don Alonzo Watson * Jessica M. Weis * George Whipple * Frederick Whittlesey * Abel Carter Wilder General Elwell Stephen Otis was originally interred at Mount Hope before being removed to

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

. Notable cremations at Mount Hope include Blanche Stuart Scott and

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he ...

. Elizabeth Mackenzie, mother of

Upper Canada Rebellion The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the Oligarchy, oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the Lower Canada Rebe ...

leader and first

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the Municipal government of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...

William Lyon MacKenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March12, 1795 August28, 1861) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded newspapers critical of the Family Compact, a term used to identify the establishment of Upper Canada. He represe ...

, is interred here following her death in exile in 1839 and listed as Elizabeth Kenzie. Her son viewed her passing funeral from his cell at Monroe County Jail in December 1839 after failing to be granted leave to be at her deathbed. The Mackenzie family remained in the United States before returning to Canada in 1849.

Friends of Mount Hope

The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery is a non-profit organization of volunteers founded in 1980 to restore, preserve, and encourage public use and enjoyment of this unique historical treasure.

References

External links

* *
Reforest Mount Hope

Volunteer At Mount Hope

The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery
*

Cemetery map
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Geography of Rochester, New York History of Rochester, New York Cemeteries in Monroe County, New York Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Rochester, New York Rural cemeteries Tourist attractions in Rochester, New York Buildings and structures in Rochester, New York Cemeteries established in the 1830s