- Gilead Cemetery
Infobox Cemetery
name = Gilead Cemetery
imagesize = 300px
caption = Main gates to Gilead Cemetery, added in 1914
established = 1766
country =USA
location = Carmel, NY
coordinates = coord|41|24|29|N|73|40|22|W
type = public
owner = Town of Carmel
size = convert|1.24|acre|m2
graves = 310cite web|last=Jettner|first=Alicia|title=National Register of Historic Places nomination, Gilead Cemetery|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=7223|publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |date=1988-10-03|accessdate=2008-08-06]
website =
findagrave = [http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=cem&FScemeteryid=64644 Gilead Cemetery]
political =Gilead Cemetery is located in the Town of Carmel,
New York ,United States . It is off a bend in Mechanic Street convert|1.5|mi|km south of the hamlet of Carmel, seat of Putnam County.Some of the earliest settlers of the region were buried here, when it was attached to a since-demolished
Baptist meeting house built in the mid-18th century. Among those buried here later include Enoch Crosby, a Revolutionary Warspy believed to be the model for the title character ofJames Fenimore Cooper 's novel "The Spy",cite web|last=Benge|first=Curt|title=Enoch Crosby|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7514441|publisher=findagrave.com |date=2003-05-20|accessdate=2008-08-06] andJoel Frost , a local politician who later served in theNew York State Legislature and for a single term in the House of Representatives.cite web|last=McKern|first=Bill|title=Joel Frost|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16963312|publisher=findagrave.com |date=2006-12-08|accessdate=2008-08-06]The
gravestone s themselves also display an unusual range offunerary art from the first graves through the last historically significant ones, in 1929. The earliest illustrate changingProtestant notions of the role of death in the later years of the 18th century. For these reasons it was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1988 (entry #88002684).Cemetery
The cemetery occupies a rough
trapezoid convert|1.24|acre|m2 in area, sloping gently uphill from the corner. It is surrounded bystone wall s from convert|2|to|4|ft|cm in height, with a pair of tall stone gateposts flanking the iron gates at the south entrance. An open area just past those gates was the likely site of themeeting house . In the rear of the property several trees rise over convert|60|ft|m in height.There are 310 separate gravesites. On 280 of these the
headstone s have legible carvings; another 199 also havefootstone s. They are made of materials fromsandstone to whitemarble andgranite , depending on the era. The earliest graves are dated 1766; the latest is from 1959.Graves are arranged in rows east to west. Headstones face east and footstones, which usually face the headstones, are instead aside them, an unusual practice. The westernmost row probably faced west originally, but was at some point reoriented.
The largest marker is a 14-ton (13-tonne) monument to Crosby added in the early 20th century to replace his previous stone, destroyed by
vandalism and souvenir-hunting. Four family plots are within the cemetery, set off by small metal-and-stone cordons.History
The future cemetery was part of a tract of land
lease d byFrederick Philipse III in 1756 to Thomas Crosby, Enoch's father. The meeting house was established quickly, with 57parishioner s signing the letter asking The Rev. Ebenezer Knibloe to be their firstpastor , a position he held for three years before yielding to Elnathan Gregory. The church and some other features of the surrounding areaSuch asLake Gilead .] would get their name from one of Gregory's widely reprintedsermon s, "Is There No Balm inGilead ?"In 1766, the cemetery received its first burial, Sarah Smith, as the surrounding farm was leased to a new tenant, James Dickenson. It was sold outright to Elisha Cole in 1828. In 1839 the meeting house was torn down and the property became exclusively a cemetery. The stone walls, probably meant to keep
livestock from neighboring farms out in the early days, were augmented by work paid for by localbenefactor Ferdinand Hopkins, who also had the gates and Crosby's monument added. The Gilead Cemetery Association was created at this time to maintain the cemetery and document its history.Burials dwindled after the opening of the much larger Raymond Hill Cemetery nearby. Those who chose Gilead as their final resting place were mainly the descendants of those already buried there. In 1959 the last burial took place, although the cemetery, now town property, has been maintained ever since by the cemetery association.
Funerary art
Many of the headstones have high-quality decorative carvings in addition to the usual information about the decedent's birth and death date. This collection of
funerary art is more extensive than in other American cemeteries of this size from this period and illustrates changingProtestant notions of death.Sarah Smith's 1766 gravestone, the oldest in the cemetery, is made of
slate and features an inverted half-moon and semi-circularfinial s. Other graves from that early era are carved mainly from redsandstone , with a few postwar markers offieldstone reflecting the economic stress of the war. They feature similar designs plusdeath's head s,skeleton s,skull s andstarburst s. These were meant to represent the triumphant finality ofdeath .Later in the 19th century, winged
cherub s begin to appear atop headstones, symbolizing thesoul 's escape from death's clutches into new life. In the 19th century, when whitemarble became the tombstone material of choice, this belief remained but was symbolized instead through neoclassical imagery of anurn andwillow tree. The urn represented death, the tree rebirth in the hereafter.A few gray granite markers are found from the early and mid-20th century. One of these, Enoch Crosby's monument, features a
sword andmusket in recognition of his military service.Notes
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