Frankfort Cemetery
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Frankfort Cemetery and Chapel | |
 Entrance to Frankfort Cemetery | |
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| Location | Frankfort, Kentucky |
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| Coordinates | 38°11′52.08″N 84°51′57.7074″W / 38.1978000°N 84.866029833°WCoordinates: 38°11′52.08″N 84°51′57.7074″W / 38.1978000°N 84.866029833°W |
| Built | 1844 |
| Architect | Carmichael, Robert; Launitz, Robert E. |
| Architectural style | Romanesque |
| NRHP Reference # | 74000872[1] |
| Added to NRHP | July 12, 1974 |
The Frankfort Cemetery is located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the supposed burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors and a Vice President of the United States.
History
It was created by Judge Mason Brown, son of statesman John Brown, inspired by a visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston.
Brown enlisted other Frankfort civic leaders and on February 27, 1844 the Kentucky General Assembly approved the cemetery's incorporation. The 32-acre (13 ha) property, then called Hunter's Garden, was purchased in 1845 for $3,801. Additional land was purchased in 1858 and in 1911 for a total of 100 acres (40 ha).
Brown hired Scottish-born landscape architect Robert Carmichael to design the cemetery.
Buildings and grounds
The cemetery is designed in a style similar to Mount Auburn, with curving lanes, terraces and a circle of vaults. Carmichael imported flowers from around the state, intending the cemetery to double as an arboretum in a time when residents could not easily travel to see mountain flowers not native to the region. A central feature is the State Mound, featuring a military memorial designed by Robert E. Launitz.[2]
The cemetery has views of the Kentucky River, which forms its western boundary. A bluff overlooking the river gives a view of downtown, south Frankfort, and the Capitol District.
Notable interments
The most visited resting place in this cemetery is pioneer Daniel Boone. The cemetery contains the graves of seventeen Governors of the Commonwealth. Some notable interments include:
- William T. Barry, U.S. Senator and United States Postmaster General
- George M. Bibb, U.S. Senator and United States Secretary of the Treasury
- John Brown, lawyer, statesman (Natural Causes)
- Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., U.S. Army General, WWII
- Henry Clay, Jr., soldier and statesman
- George Bibb Crittenden, Confederate Army General
- Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, Union Army General
- John Milton Elliott judge, murdered
- Martin Davis Hardin, politician
- Joel Tanner Hart, sculptor
- Miss Elizabeth, professional wrestling manager
- Willard Rouse Jillson, Kentucky historian, geologist
- Richard Mentor Johnson, ninth Vice President of the United States
- William Lindsay, U.S. Senator
- Humphrey Marshall, U.S. and Confederate States Congressman, Confederate States Army General
- Presley O'Bannon, U.S. Marine credited as first to raise the American flag over foreign soil in 1805 at the Battle of Derna.
- Theodore O'Hara, poet, newspaperman, soldier
- Thomas H. Paynter, U.S. Senator
- Paul Sawyier, Kentucky artist
- Solomon P. Sharp, Attorney General of Kentucky murdered in the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy
- Daniel Swigert, Thoroughbred racehorse breeder, owner of Elmendorf Farm
- Isham Talbot, U.S. Senator
- Thomas Todd, U.S. Supreme Court Associate justice
- John White, politician, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (Unknown)
- Lucy Pattie, the only female member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity
- Henry Crist, early Kentucky pioneer, member of Kentucky Legislature and U.S. Congress.
- Governors of Kentucky
- John Adair
- J. C. W. Beckham
- Luke P. Blackburn
- William O'Connell Bradley
- Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr.
- John J. Crittenden
- William Goebel
- Christopher Greenup
- Robert P. Letcher
- George Madison
- Charles S. Morehead
- James T. Morehead
- Edwin P. Morrow
- Charles Scott
- Augustus O. Stanley
- Lawrence Wetherby
- Simeon Willis
Gallery
- Gravestones and Memorials in Frankfort Cemetery
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Pioneer explorer Daniel Boone & wife Rebecca Bryan.
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Gov. Robert P. Letcher
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Impressionist painter Paul Sawyier
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One side of the Kentucky War Memorial
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Names of some of the American dead (Raisin River Massacre, War of 1812, Kentucky War Memorial)
References
- ↑ Staff (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ Robinson, Jennifer Kaye. "Frankfort Cemetery and Chapel (National Register of Historic Places - Nomination Form)" (PDF). National Park Service (US Government). Retrieved December 4, 2011.
- L.F. Johnson, History of Frankfort Cemetery (Frankfort, Ky., 1921).
External links
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