Cedar Hill Cemetery (Suitland, Maryland)

Cedar Hill Cemetery, previously known as Forest Lake Cemetery, and also formerly Nonesuch Plantation, is a cemetery located in Suitland, Maryland.[1]

Cedar Hill Cemetery
"The Bridge of Life", one of six pieces built by Dionicio Rodriguez, located on the cemetery grounds.
Map
Details
Established1895 (1895)
Location
Size150 acres (61 ha)

History

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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

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The cemetery has a mass grave for the victims of the Terra Cotta Railroad wreck.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Forest Lake Cemetery. New Burial Site Selected on Pennsylvania Avenue Extended Southwest". The Washington Post. 7 April 1895.
  2. ^ "Plan a New Cemetery". The Washington Post. 21 December 1913.
  3. ^ "Suit Over Local Cemetery". The Washington Post. 2 March 1913.
  4. ^ 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 / 38.86278; -76.945694

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