Baccus Cemetery in Plano, Texas, dates to 1847 when Henry Cook established the cemetery to bury his son, Daniel. The cemetery was initially known as Cook Cemetery. After Cook died in 1862, his daughter, Rachel, acquired the land, and in 1878, she deeded it to Cook’s heirs for use as a cemetery and a church, Baccus Christian Church. While the church was later abandoned, the cemetery, named Baccus Cemetery in about 1915, is still in use.
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Bolton Street Memorial Park, formerly known as Bolton Street Cemetery, is the oldest cemetery in Wellington, New Zealand. Dating back to 1840, many notable people are buried here.
Tombstone opened the “City Cemetery” in 1878. The site is the final resting place of at least 250 people. The cemetery, later called the “Old City Cemetery,” didn’t pick up its current name, “Boothill Graveyard” until about 1929, when the town first hosted Helldorado Days. Its permanent residents include three men — Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury — gunned down during the now-infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. By the 1920s, the cemetery was in dire need of restoration. Now restored, the cemetery is one of the city’s main tourist destinations, in part because of its sometimes humorous epitaphs.
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During the Civil War, Camp Chase, named for Salmon P. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln and a former governor of Ohio, was home to a military training camp for Union troops and one of the largest Confederate prisons. The first occupants of Camp Chase’s prison were political prisoners, but during the Civil War, as many as 25,000 Confederate soldiers passed through the camp, which was built to house 3,500-4,000 prisoners. By the end of January 1865, the prison held more than 9,400 prisoners. Today, the only remnant of the camp are the graves of 2,260 Confederate soldiers, buried in quarters so tight their headstones nearly touch one another. In the middle stands a monument — with the word “Americans” engraved into its “memorial arch.”
Chattanooga National Cemetery is located near the center of the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses 120.9 acres and has more than 50,000 interments. The cemetery was established in 1863, by an order from Major General George Henry Thomas after the Civil War Battles of Chattanooga, as a place to inter Union soldiers who fell in combat.
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Christ Church Burial Ground at 5th and Arch Streets in Philadelphia is the final resting place for several signers of the Declaration of Independence, including Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Other signers buried in the cemetery are Joseph Hewes, Francis Hopkinson, George Ross and Benjamin Rush. Christ Church, an Episcopal church founded in 1695 and a place of worship for many of the famous Revolutionary War participants, including George Washington, owns the cemetery. The cemetery, located across from the Visitors Center and National Constitution Center, began in 1719.
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Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in the North End of Boston was established on Feb. 20, 1659, as North Burying Ground and is the second oldest cemetery in the city. The hill is named for William Copp, a shoemaker who once owned the land. Among those buried in the graveyard is Robert Newman, the patriot who placed the lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church for Paul Revere’s midnight ride.
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Crest Lawn Memorial Park in Atlanta was established in 1916 as a public burial site and spans roughly 145 acres. It is the oldest Mausoleum located west of the Allegheny Mountains and is the final resting place of more than 50,000 people. There are five different Jewish Cemeteries within the Crestlawn premises, and Casey’s Hill Cemetery is documented as a separate cemetery but is located within Crestlawn boundaries.
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The Frankfort Cemetery has a rich history and is situated on a bluff that provides stunning panoramic views of the Kentucky River, the Kentucky State Capitol, the Governor’s Mansion, and the Capitol District. It was established by Judge Mason Brown, inspired by the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston. The Kentucky General Assembly granted the cemetery’s incorporation on February 27, 1844. The original 32-acre property, Hunter’s Garden, was purchased for $3,801 in 1845. Over time, the cemetery expanded to 100 acres through additional purchases in 1858 and 1911. The cemetery is the final resting place of legendary American pioneer Daniel Boone, 17 Kentucky governors and a United States vice president.
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The Glasgow Necropolis is a fascinating Victorian cemetery on a prominent hill east of Glasgow Cathedral. More than 50,000 people have been buried here, although only a few monuments have names, and not every grave has a stone. Roughly 3,500 monuments exist here, making it a truly unique destination for anyone interested in history or architecture. The creation of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris sparked a wave of pressure for cemeteries in Britain, requiring a change in the law to allow burial for profit. Glasgow was among the first to join this campaign, and the cemetery planning was started in 1831 by the Merchants’ House of Glasgow in anticipation of a change in the law. Glasgow Necropolis officially opened in April 1833, a year after the Cemeteries Act passed. It’s fascinating to see how this cemetery played a role in the changing social and legal landscape of the time.