Frankfort Cemetery

The Frankfort Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the 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.[2]

Frankfort Cemetery and Chapel
Entrance to Frankfort Cemetery
Frankfort Cemetery is located in Kentucky
Frankfort Cemetery
Frankfort Cemetery is located in the United States
Frankfort Cemetery
LocationFrankfort, Kentucky
Coordinates38°11′52.2″N 84°52′01.8″W
Built1844
ArchitectCarmichael, Robert; Launitz, Robert E.
Architectural styleRomanesque
Websitewww.frankfortcemetery.org
NRHP reference No.74000872[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 12, 1974

The cemetery is built on a bluff overlooking the Kentucky River with views of the Kentucky State Capitol, the Kentucky Governor's Mansion, downtown Frankfort, south Frankfort, and the Capitol District.

History

The cemetery 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. The cemetery is laid out in a style similar to Mount Auburn, with curving lanes, terraces and a circle of vaults. Carmichael imported and planted trees and flowering shrubs from the mountains of Kentucky, intending the cemetery to double as an arboretum in a time when residents could not easily travel to see mountain plants not native to the region. Carmichael is also buried in the cemetery.[2]

There are numerous monuments and memoria in the cemetery.[2][3] A central feature is the State Mound, featuring a Kentucky War Memorial designed by Robert E. Launitz and inscribed with the names of officers killed in numerous wars.[4] During the American Civil War, Frankfort Cemetery was used for the final resting place of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Corporal, Lyman B. Hannaford of the 103rd Ohio Infantry notes in his letter dated April 2, 1863, "They are planting (as soldiers term it) a good many soldiers here—almost one per day. That is a good many for the number of troops here."[5]

Interments

Kentucky Governors

Seventeen Kentucky governors are buried there:

Other notable people

Other notable people buried at Frankfort Cemetery include:

References
  1. "National Register Information System – (#74000872)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. Morton, Jennie C (1909). "History of the Frankfort Cemetery (From the Streets of the Capital)". Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society. 7 (19): 23–34. JSTOR 23367200 – via JSTOR.
  3. "History of the Frankfort cemetery : Johnson, L. F. (Lewis Franklin), 1859–1931 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming". Internet Archive.
  4. Robinson, Jennifer Kaye. "Frankfort Cemetery and Chapel (National Register of Historic Places – Nomination Form)". National Park Service (US Government). Retrieved December 4, 2011.
  5. "2 April 1863". The Civil War Letters of Lyman Beecher Hannaford. September 5, 2018.
  6. "Women's History Month: Lucy Pattie". therecordonline.net. March 14, 2019.
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