“Positioned behind a fence at the north gate of the Mt. Hope Cemetery – method acting – I prepared for my entre, feeling like John Wilkes Booth about to jump onto the stage at Ford’s Theater.” November 6th, 2015. From Stalker of the Town plays Jack the Ripper at the Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walk
As our archives bulge, from time to time we revisit magazine themes and sites. A reader and writer favorite is Mt. Hope Cemetery, a place of adventure, hi jinks and grave sites illuminating the rich heritage of Rochester.
As seen in Stalker of the Town plays Jack the Ripper at the Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walk in November 2015, I was invited to play Jack the Ripper for the Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walk. On the tour, history and local ghost stories come alive in this cemetery-side walk.
At the Cemetery gates, out leaps Jack the Ripper who some claim is buried in another Rochester cemetery, Holy Sepulchral on Lake Avenue.
As seen in Audrey’s excellent adventure in Rochester, in April 2016, my niece Audrey and I had an excellent adventure in Mt. Hope in Cemetery in which Audrey gave Jack (aka Talker) his comeuppance.
“We then revisited the nearby site where my brother had acted as Jack the Ripper at the Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walk. Looking too gleeful and self-satisfied for my taste at the terror he had sown, my brother peered upon the scene of the crime. Audrey felt this was the time for Talker to finally be rendered mute if not moot.” From Audrey’s excellent adventure in Rochester
In Memorium: In search of Talker at the Grand Light Torch Tour tells the story of another spooky revisit to our old haunts in which Talker appears to disappear into thin air.
Dean Tucker at The Grand Torch Light Tour in Mt. Hope Cemetery 10/15/16 From In Memorium: In search of Talker at the Grand Light Torch Tour
NOTABLE GRAVES
SUSAN B. ANTHONY — Women’s Rights leader
Susan B. Anthony’s gravesite on Election Day and the day after
With Representative Louise Slaughter (1929 – 2018) (center) and friend [Photo: member of Louise’ staff] 11/08/16
Peter Barry (1912-1973)
DR. HARTWELL CARVER — self-proclaimed father of the Pacific Railroad
Was a Rochestarian the founder of the transcontinental railroad? Not so fast.
Dr. Hartwell Carver (1789 – 1875)
ADELAIDE CRAPSEY — Rochester poet
In Mount Hope Cemetery remembering the tragic vision of Adelaide Crapsey and “Alone in the Dawn” Restorationist James Caffrey joins the conversation with more on Adelaide Crapsey
Adelaide Crapsey 1878 – 1914
EDWARD R. CRONE — Died in World War Two and the model Kurt Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-5.
(left) Edward R. Crone Jr., (1923 – 1945) Brighton High School Crossroads yearbook, 1941. Held at and scanned courtesy of Brighton Memorial Library; (right) Crone’s gravesite in Mt. Hope Cemetery, 12/15/18 [Photo: David Kramer]
“The greatest American of the nineteenth century” and FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND PLYMOUTH ROCK
(left) Photo by David Kramer (right) Frederick and Helen Pitts Douglass graves in Mount Hope Cemetery – Photo by Leigh Fought
FRANK GANNETT — Founder of the Gannett Company
Saying goodbye to the weekday print edition of the Democrat and Chronicle
Frank Gannett (September 15, 1876 – December 3, 1957)
SETH GREEN – America’s most important fisherman
Seth Green: The Most Important Fisherman in American History
Seth Green’s gravesite in Mount Hope Cemetery. The women who took the picture were visiting from Hobart and William Smith College. They said I should pose as if “reeling” in the great fisherman. 9/11/16
DR. CHARLES T. LUNSFORD — Physician and Civil Right’s activist
On Dr. Charles T. Lunsford and the house where he entertained Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Charles Terrell Lunsford’s grave is located in the northeast half of the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Range 10. On the grave is the emblem of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the inscription Rochester’s First Black Physician, along with the years in which he practiced medicine, 1921 to 1972 [Photo: UR medical resident]
Jane Parker Marsh (1836 – 1913)
GENERAL ELWELL STEPHEN OTIS — Commander-in-Chief of American troops in the Philippines, 1898 – 1900.
Remembering General Elwell Otis on his Day, June 15th: Rochester’s imperial war hero
General Otis’s grave in Mt. Hope Cemetery. In 1922, his body was re-interred in Arlington National Cemetery
ISAAC AND AMY POST — Among the first believers in Spiritualism, radical Hicksite Quakers involved in the struggles for abolitionism and women’s rights
Grave of Isaac and Amy Kirby Post in Mt. Hope Cemetery. [Photo: David Kramer, 3/1/19]
The grandfather of the internet is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery
The James Reid monument in Mount Hope Cemetery is a square column set on three graduated marble steps. Two of the four faces of the top section are visible in this photograph. One has Reid’s birth year, 1819, enclosed in a wreath. The second contains a bronze portrait plaque of Mr. Reid. The bronze tablet set into the support column reads, “James Douglas Reid, 1819-1901. Born Edinburgh, died New York. A pioneer of the telegraph and its first superintendent. Friend and associate of Morse. A kindly gentleman of beautiful character and stainless life. This monument was erected 1914 by telegraphers in appreciation and loving memory of his unselfish helpfulness.”[From the Monroe County Library website. [Photo: David Kramer, 10/21/19]
Dr. Joseph Roby, 19 Aug 1871 – 15 Jul 1954, Mt. Hope Cemetery, Section MM, Lot 161 [Photo: David Kramer, 3/23/20]
No doubt Adams saw Nathaniel Rochester’s grave on his tour of Mt. Hope Cemetery. Between West and Glenn Avenues in the R section, the grave is # 15 in the Mount Hope Cemetery Pocket Guide. 7/28/16
DR. JOHN H. VAN EVRIE — racial propagandist
In search of America’s “first professional racist” in Rochester
6/25/20. Recently, Van Evrie’s grave was restored, under the auspices of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Friends of the Mt. Hope Cemetery.
The Firemen’s Plot
6/30/20. Mt. Hope Cemetery. The Firemen’s Plot was first purchased in Mt. Hope Cemetery for the purpose of burying fallen firefighters in 1843. In 1880, the Rochester Firefighters Benevolent Association, realizing more space was needed, traded that plot for a larger section. The burials from the original plot were transferred to this new section. A 50 foot obelisk was also constructed for the new plot. On Sept. 9, 1880 a ceremony was held to dedicate the new Firemen’s Plot. The monument was re-dedicated on September 9, 1984. The plot is at the corner of Fireman’s Avenue and Grove Avenue, in the northwest corner of section BB. The 1880 dedication and 1984 re-dedication is found at the bottom of the Firemen’s Monument. (Rochwiki) [Photos: David Kramer] From Up the Stairwells
Plaque dedicated to To the men, women and children whose unmarked graves were discovered in Highland Park.
Mt. Hope Cemetery [Photo: David Kramer, 4/30/20] To the men, women and children whose unmarked graves were discovered in Highland Park. From The Remember Garden in Highland Park refurbished and beautified in time for the Lilac Festival
War in Mt. Hope Cemetery
Civil War
The Civil War Veterans’ monument in Mount Hope Cemetery was erected in September 1908, and unveiled on September 25 of that year. Statues of two soldiers stand atop a granite base. The older soldier holds a flag. The younger one holds a bugle. The bronze plaque on the base reads “1861 -1865. On Fame’s eternal camping ground/ Their silent tents are spread, /And glory guards with solemn round/ The bivouac of the dead.” The music for the verse completes the plaque. 6/18/18
Spanish-America War
Spanish-American War monuments in Rochester.
(above) Audrey holding a photograph of David Kramer in the Spanish-American War uniform of Lynda Howland’s grandfather and holding a photograph his photograph. (below) Trophy Cannon from the Spanish flagship Reina Cristina sunk in the Battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898
World War I
Rochesterians in World War One and the One Hundredth Anniversary of Château-Thierry
Mt. Hope Cemetery, 7/18/18. A Centennial Remembrance of Sergeant William H. Cooper
World War Two
Paul C. Zaenglein, Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY. Zaenglein was killed one week before the surrender of Japan.
Korean War
PVT Glenn F Smith 32nd Infantry Regiment, Army,Hostile, Died of Wounds (DOW), Date Of Loss: September 27, 1950, Service Number: RA12286630 ,Born: May 14, 1929 ,Home Or Place Of Enlistment, Rochester, New York, Location Or Battle Zone: Seoul, Burial Location, Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY, Comments: Private Smith was a light weapons infantryman with the 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was seriously wounded during the assault of the southern areas of Seoul, South Korea on September 27, 1950 and died of those wounds later that day.
Remembering the Korean War in Rochester
SEE ALSO
THE FANDANGO — the Rochester Mirage
The Fandango and the Rochester Mirage
The Rochester Mirage. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 13, 1871. Caption: “Extraordinary Mirage, Showing the Canada Coast of Lake Ontario, as seen from Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, April 16th”
Mt. Hope’s Subconscious Side: Symbolizing Life and Death in America’s Oldest Victorian Cemetery
Architectural flourishes include grand obelisks and columns, statues and an 1875 Florentine fountain made of cast iron.
