Old Hudson Township Burying Ground

This weekend on the way to friend’s housewarming, we visited the Old Hudson Township Burying Ground.  When I read about the cemetery, a number of sources remarked that it was like an old New England cemetery – and based on my limited experience, I would say it is, or at least it fits our imagined picture of a New England cemetery.

Part of the reason for that is that the cemetery is just that old – the first burial was in 1808 and the last was in 1900, and most of the readable markers date from before 1850.

The upkeep of the cemetery puts others to shame. The straight, neat rows of tombstones are punctuated by small flowering trees, and fallen tombstones seem to be righted with expediency.  The cemetery sits on the property of Western Reserve Academy, across from its neatly manicured sports’ fields on Chapel Street that terminates in front of a red brick, old-fashioned (dare I say?) New England style chapel. Western Reserve Academy was once Western Reserve College and Preparatory School (1826-1882) and gave birth to what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

The cemetery is intertwined with the school, its confines populated with founders and early professors of the school, as well as a few students.

The archivist at Western Reserve Academy has an interesting website with historical photos and information about the school’s history and alumni here.