Art at Cedar Hill

Cedar Hill Cemetery’s monuments are creative expressions of 19th-century funerary art. They reflect the wealth and status of Victorian Hartford. And those who chose to be buried in its new fashionable cemetery.

Victorian Hartford

Many of Cedar Hill Cemetery’s memorials illustrate Hartford’s social and economic prominence in the 19th century.

For several decades following the Civil War, Hartford was the richest small city in the U.S. The capital city was the epicenter of the insurance industry. It also housed innovative factories. Factories that produced Colt firearms, typewriters, sewing machines, and even the first automobiles.

A regional leader during the Industrial Revolution, Hartford was home to the first public art museum (Wadsworth Atheneum), oldest publicly-funded park (Bushnell Park), and second-oldest secondary school (Hartford Public High School).

Cedar Hill Cemetery and its monuments tell the story of the city’s Victorian heyday and more.

Cedar Hill Monuments

Cedar Hill Cemetery features historic memorials made of brownstone, marble, granite, bronze, and zinc. The monuments include exceptional examples of sarcophagus, obelisk, Celtic cross, allegorical figures, and more. There are also 12 private mausoleums dating before 1945.

Noted artists and architects designed many of Cedar Hill's monuments. Artists including Carl Conrads, Richard Upjohn, George Keller, Truman Howe Bartlett, John Moffitt, Randolph Rogers, and Louis Potter.

Cedar Hill Monument Highlights

circa 1873

A Brownstone Statue

Of quarry owner Daniel Russell. The only life-size likeness of an actual person at Cedar Hill.

circa 1867

Angel of Resurrection

By Randolph Rogers atop the Colt Monument.

1866 to 1903

Carl Conrads

Many examples by Carl Conrads, house sculptor for New England Granite Works.

circa 1887

Mark Howard Monument

An 18-foot granite pyramid with marble angel.

circa 1875

Stedman Monument

General Griffin Stedman Memorial, Section 1 (photo by Jeffrey Dutton)

An elaborately carved granite sarcophagus of military design by John Moffitt.

1888-89

J. P. Morgan Monument

Reflecting his vision of the Ark of the Covenant by architect George Keller.

circa 1909

Horace Wells Monument

Featuring bronze bas relief by artist Louis Potter.

1880s

Two Zinc Monuments

By Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, CT.

Notable Monuments

Learn about some of Cedar Hill Cemetery’s most prominent monuments.
Visit our Notable Monuments page to learn more.

VISIT THE NOTABLE MONUMENTS PAGE

Notable Monuments

Learn about some of Cedar Hill Cemetery’s most prominent monuments.
Visit our Notable Monuments page to learn more.

VISIT THE NOTABLE MONUMENTS PAGE

Monument Fund

The Foundation raises funds to preserve Cedar Hill Cemetery’s historic memorials.
To learn more about our preservation activities visit our Monument Fund page.

VISIT THE MONUMENT FUND PAGE