Pittsfield Cemetery

Pittsfield Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Allen Memorial Arch and Gateway
Location	Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Built	1850
Architect	Horatio Stone; Olmsted Brothers, et al.
NRHP Reference #	07000145 [1]
Added to NRHP	March 13, 2007

Pittsfield Cemetery is a historic cemetery at 203 Wahconah Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The 142 acres (57 ha) cemetery lies northwest of downtown Pittsfield, and is primarily notable for the 83 acres (34 ha) that were initially laid out in 1850. Laid out in the fashionable rural cemetery style, the cemetery is the resting ground of many prominent Pittsfield residents, and contains a number of architecturally significant elements.

History

It was initially laid out in 1850. Although the cemetery started without much fanfare or styling in 1850, over the next 100 years it acquired a number of interesting elements. Funds for the Allen Memorial Arch and Main Gate were donated in 1885 by Thomas Allen, Jr., and provide an imposing entry to the facility. A memorial to Allen elsewhere in the cemetery is believed to be the largest piece of red granite in the world. In 1900 the chapel was dedicated. In the 1930s cemetery officials added the Superintendent's Cottage and a Maintenance Garage. As the cemetery grew in the 1910s, the noted Olmsted Brothers landscape firm was retained to plan the layout of new sections of the cemetery.

The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.^[2]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts

References

1. National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. "NRHP nomination for Pittsfield Cemetery". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2013-11-28.