THE WOODLANDS CEMETERY

The Woodlands is a National Historic Landmark on the western banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It includes a magnificent federal style mansion, its matching carriage house and stable, and its historic garden landscape that was later developed as a rural Victorian cemetery.

Contents

Early history

The cemetery

Notable burials

See also

References

External links

Early history

The property was originally owned by the famous Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton, who in 1735 purchased 300 acres in what is now West Philadelphia. When he died in 1741, he willed his lands to his son, also named Andrew, who survived his father but six years, devising the estate to his son, William, who rebuilt the original house over a period of years into a 16-room manor. The new Woodlands mansion was one of the greatest domestic American architectural achievements of the 18th century, recognized after the Revolutionary War as a leading example of English taste and presaging architectural trends in the following century. An active botanist, Hamilton's estate and greenhouses grew to contain more than 10,000 different species of plants including the first specimens introduced into America of the Ginkgo, Norway Maple, Ailanthus, and Lombardy Poplar as well as plants grown from seeds harvested during Lewis and Clark’s expeditions. Hamilton also collected numerous native plants with his friends and neighbors, the Bartram family of botanists of nearby Bartram's Garden. Today, more than 720 historic trees and plants have survived and are scattered throughout the property.

The cemetery

After Hamilton's death in 1813, his heirs sold off much of the property for residential development. In 1840, The Woodlands Cemetery Company purchased the remaining grounds, which included the mansion and carriage house.
The “Garden” or rural cemetery was an innovation during the first half of the 19th century which became a stylish alternative to crowded inner-city burying grounds, increasingly viewed as aestheticly and hygenicly undesirable. These rural cemeteries were usually private and non-sectarian and were unique for their use of elaborate landscaping and architecture. The Woodlands estate’s isolated location and extensive gardens provided the setting for a model rural cemetery where, according to an early advertisement, “..the decaying bodies of the dead may securely moulder into kindred dust, with an abundant vegetation and free winds to absorb and dissipate all noxious effluvia.”
As with its rival to the north, Laurel Hill Cemetery, trustees of the Woodlands spurred the cemetery’s early growth by interring the remains of a celebrity, Commodore David Porter. His remains, originally buried at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum cemetery, were reburied at Woodlands in 1845.
By mid-century, Woodlands was thriving and attracted many of Philadelphia’s elite.
Today, the Woodlands Cemetery Company is a non-profit organization. The Friends of Woodlands works with the Cemetery Company and the University City Historical Society to preserve and maintain both the mansion and the cemetery grounds. The site is also designated as The Woodlands National Recreation Trail by the National Park Service.

Notable burials

★ Francis Martin Drexel (April 7, 1792 – June 5, 1863) was a Philadelphia banker, and progenitor of the Drexel banking dynasty.

★ Anthony Joseph Drexel, born September 13, 1826 in Philadelphia. Founder, Drexel University.

★ Joseph William Drexel, born January 24, 1833. He retired from banking in 1876, then became trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and director of the Metropolitan Opera house.

★ Francis Anthony Drexel born June 20, 1824 in Philadelphia. Father of Saint Katharine Drexel.

★ Alice Fisher (1839 - 1888) who was 19th Century Nursing pioneer at the former Philadelphia General Hospital.

★ Samuel David Gross b. July 8, 1805 d. May 6, 1884, Medical pioneer

★ James Gwyn b. November 24, 1828 d. July 17, 1906, Civil War Union Brevet Major General

★ Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), artist

★ John Joseph Abercrombie, Civil War General

★ Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden b. September 7, 1829 d. December 22, 1887

★ William Moseley Swain b. May 12, 1809 d. February 16, 1868

★ Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. (1897-1961)

★ Charles Jared Ingersoll (1782-1862)

★ William Christian Bullitt (1891-1967)

★ Edward Heston, PA state senator and Revolutionary War colonel, namesake of Hestonville

★ Edward T. Stotesbury (1849-1938) a prominent partner at J.P. Morgan & Co. and its Philadelphia affiliate Drexel & Co. for over fifty-five years

See also

References

Keels, Thomas H., ''Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries'' (Portsmouth, NH: Arcadia Press, 2003)

External links

★ Cemetery map

★ Woodlands home page