Beyond the Gates
Cedar Hill Cemetery commemorated its 150th anniversary on September 13, 2014. We were delighted to share the cemetery’s rich history, majestic monuments and picturesque landscape with an enthusiastic crowd.
The celebration began with a procession lead by the First Company Governor’s Foot Guard. The Opening Ceremony followed, featuring Todd Mather, Cedar Hill Cemetery & Foundation Chair, Congressman John Larson and Rev. Matthew Laney of Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
Throughout the day costumed dramatizations and musical performances illuminated the Victorian era. Stage performances included: Robert Olson, America’s First Magician; Tom Callinan, Brother Against Brother: Songs from the Civil War; Juleps & Viragoes, Victorian Fashion Show, Thomas Kelleher, Phrenology: Quackery or the Science of the Mind?; and The Proper Ladies, Old Fashioned Sing.
Actors shared Hartford stories through their portrayals of Jacob Weidenmann, James Batterson, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt and Robert Ferguson. Allegra Farm offered Horse & Wagonette rides and participants enjoyed playing Victorian games, including Graces, Skittles and Quoits, and perusing 19th-century artifacts and historic photographs of Cedar Hill and Hartford.