Cedar Hill Cemetery (Suitland, Maryland)
| Cedar Hill Cemetery | |
|---|---|
 "The Bridge of Life", one of six pieces built by Dionicio Rodriguez, located on the cemetery grounds. | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1895 |
| Location | |
| Size | 150 acres (61 ha) |
Cedar Hill Cemetery, previously known as Forest Lake Cemetery, and also formerly Nonesuch Plantation, is a cemetery located in Suitland, Maryland.[1]
History[edit]
Following a series of land purchases starting in 1890, Forest Lake Cemetery was chartered and opened in 1895, but by 1913 few bodies were buried there.[1]
In 1913, after going bankrupt in the wake of a failed 1908 sale to a developer, 130 acres (53 ha) of the 400-acre (160 ha) Forest Lake Cemetery were sold to form the Cedar Hill Cemetery.[2][3]
Over time, the cemetery was expanded, and it is now over 150 acres (61 ha) in size. The oldest tombstone reads "Philenia W. Patte, Nov. 19, 1871, 58 years".[citation needed]
From 1936 to 1938, Dionicio Rodriguez, a Mexican builder and artist, built six pieces in concrete at Cedar Hill, most using a faux bois technique to make them resemble wood. He built two footbridges, a bench, a table in a pergola, a hollow "tree trunk", and an Annie Laurie Wishing Chair, also in a pergola.[4]
Notable interments[edit]
- Walter Esau Beall - Baseball Player
- Eugene Black - Congressman
- Jonathan Bourne, Jr. - Senator
- Fred Lewis Crawford - Congressman
- Abe Fortas - Supreme Court Justice (unmarked)
- Stephen Warfield Gambrill - Congressman
- Walter William Herrell - Baseball Player
- Edward Keating - Congressman
- George Keefe - Baseball Player
- Arch McDonald - Sportscaster
- Raymond Moore - Baseball Player
- John Frost Nugent - Senator
- George Sutherland - Supreme Court Justice
- Charles Winfield Waterman- Senator
- James Eli Watson - Senator
The cemetery has a mass grave for the victims of the Terra Cotta Railroad wreck.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Forest Lake Cemetery. New Burial Site Selected on Pennsylvania Avenue Extended Southwest". The Washington Post. 7 April 1895.
- ^ "Plan a New Cemetery". The Washington Post. 21 December 1913.
- ^ "Suit Over Local Cemetery". The Washington Post. 2 March 1913.
- ^ Light, Patsy (2008). Capturing Nature: The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriguez. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 95. ISBN 1585446106.
38°51′46″N 76°56′44.5″W / 38.86278°N 76.945694°W