United States History on Cemeteries

I'm only guessing but possibly Sante Fe New Mexico might likely have the oldest cemetery in the USA.

Santa Fe? that surprises me - i was thinking the oldest cemetery is in the eastern part of the United States. I'm curious as to why you're saying Santa Fe - I'm thinking it has to do with the Spaniards.

oldest existing cemetery? Oldest euro-style cemetery? There were burial mounds built by some natives......

There's a grave addict website! Grave-heads

There's a claim that Ipswich, MA has the oldest cemetery in the U.S. - from 1634.

I'm looking for the oldest Euro cemetery in the U.S. - non Native - example: Philadelphia, Boston, Jamestown - etc.

I'm also looking for American burial customs - where did Americans get the customs - I know the obvious answer, but, I need sources for an article I'm writing.

thanks.

thanks littlek! it's a start.

I saw some other claims for oldest cemetery, but none beat 1634. Try the link above, ask them there about practices.

Probably Florida, Spaniards there early on, I think maybe St. Pete beats them, seem to remember something of pre-English settlements there.

Make that St. Augustine. Google "historical American funeral customs" in their search box (without the quotation marks). Here's the first hit, which starts with Native Americans and works up through the centuries:



http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/nrb41/nrb41_5.htm

There isn't one "our burial ritual"--there have been dozens, probably hundreds over the years--changing from Puritan winged skulls"time is fleeting, you're gonna die, judgment is swift and harsh", through the Victorian romanticism, which made cemeteries places for family Sunday picnics, through today's conspicuous consumption keeping-up-with-the-Joneses graves with continuous video loops of the deceased and burial in their Ferraris (no kidding).

Different Catholic, Protestant, Jewish traditions. Different ethnic traditions. New Orleans jazz funerals. Paupers' potter's fields. Arlington. The Unknown Soldiers. bunches of traditions.

burial vs. cremation, scattering people's ashes over the ground they loved. Generations of family graves inside a wrought iron fence down on the family farm (four generations of my family on a farm in Ohio we haven't owned in two generations). Shooting Tim Leary's and "Scotty" from "Star Trek"'s ashes into space.

Nice find!

thank you guys so much - you've really helped me out here - food for thought and several avenues to take.

thanks again!!
C

Sure thing - good luck!

You should listen to Dyslexia about this. New Mexico had several thriving Spanish communities long before Jamestown. We have gravestones here so old that their inscriptions have worn off in time. St. Augustine in Florida may be just a tiny bit earlier, but not by much. Coronado was in this country in the 16th century, and there were some Spaniards here before Coronado. There were 3,000 settlers in New Mexico by the time of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. Pope' drove the Spanish clear back out of New Mexico, though the Spanish were back in force by the end of that century.

where was this located ? i know of one dated 1639 in virginia>

Cupids in Newfoundland, Canada dates to 1610 and is considered the Oldest "English" Cemetery in North America but Quebec City was founded in 1608 and Newfoundland was an outpost to Quebec City. Yes the French were in the Eastern part of North America before the English even thought of coming here, and Spain in the South!

The oldest European cemetery in all of the Americas is in St. Croix Island, Maine - 1604.
The remains of the two individuals [in last week's photo] were excavated by National Park Service
archeologists in 1969 and confirmed to be members of the French expedition led by Huguenot Pierre Dugua in
1604. The two men, along with 33 other settlers who had died of scurvy and were buried during the winter of
1604-05, lie in unmarked graves on Saint Croix Island. The Saint Croix Island settlement was the first attempt
by France to establish a permanent settlement in Acadie. The island had excellent prospects both for defense as
well as for trading with Native Americans. Only 44 out of 79 men survived that grueling winter, cut off from
fresh water and game by dangerous ice flows. As spring arrived and native people traded game for bread, the
health of those remaining improved.
When a relief party arrived in June 1605, the majority of buildings were dismantled and moved to the new
settlement of Port Royal in today's Nova Scotia. The site was briefly re-occupied in 1611 by a Captain
Platrier and four others, but any remaining buildings were entirely destroyed by an English expedition in
1613. Today, there are no visible remains of the settlement or
cemetery.