Oneida County History Center

from Mohawk Valley Living 80 JULY 2020

MV Crossword

The Conservatory & Chapel at Forest Hill Cemetery by Janice Reilly

“If such be His will, let me lie in Forest Hill surrounded by tasteful tombs that mark the resting places of our City’s famous dead; midst incense-scented shrub and flowers, lulled by the pure, sweet song of birds; where lofty trees stand sentinels on guard and spread their arching arms to form cathedral naves. Here, by His grace, may I rest eternally in peace. L.D.” [from a booklet titled Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica, NY (no date). Initials of “LD” are unknown.]

Almeron Hotchkiss, a New York civil engineer, and landscape designer was hired by the cemetery association to layout and develop the grounds of Forest Hill Cemetery around 1849. He did so using a rare artistic sense that incorporated natural elements. The association bought 37 acres of heavily wooded land, which created serious challenges and problems for the cemetery road builders and ground crews. Farmland on the plank road leading to Bridgewater [now Oneida Street] was added later. The land was surrounded by a fence. A three-mile-long carriage avenue with attractive flagstone curbing was laid out. Persons wishing to ride through the grounds in carriages obtained a ticket from the office. Paths were constructed for pedestrians who were admitted for free. In the early days, horse cars brought visitors from the city to a stop near the cemetery entrance. The cemetery was considered “rural.”

An elaborate parade was held at the formal opening of the cemetery in June 1850. The Utica Brass Band played the processional and exercises were attended by all part of the community: clergy, citizens, school children, officers of the association, and visitors. Grand promenades were held on Sundays for it was the place to go after church. You could meet family and friends, perhaps around the lily ponds, sit in quiet repose to commune with lost relatives, or just enjoy the natural beauty of Forest Hill Chapel was erected in 1870. It is built of sandstone quarried from nearby Clinton

The free-standing glass and wood conservatory built in 1875 was deemed too costly to maintain and was demolished in 1926

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shade trees and decorative flowers. A policeman was engaged to patrol the grounds every night throughout the year.

The cemetery association sold lots at 10 cents a square foot, and owners of lots containing 400+ square feet were entitled to vote for officers. Death in the mid-19th century was largely due to tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonia, and heart disease. Orphan children who died were buried for free in a separate section of the cemetery. You may see only their first names on the tiny headstones.

A large bell was hung to call workmen off the hill— to let them know their workday ended. Today, the 1843 Allaire bell is controlled remotely and can be rung when a procession enters the cemetery. Its home is near Childs Chapel in a masonry structure that complements the chapel and landscape. The family of Rosemary Ruzinsky donated this in 2015; construction was through Putrello and Sons Masonry.

In 1875, twenty-five years after Forest Hill was founded, the first conservatory was constructed. This conservatory was a free-standing glass and wood structure with a ground plan of eighty feet by thirty-six feet, a twentyfive-foot-high arched room, and a forty-foot-high tower. The building was heated and functioned as a mortuary chapel for winter funerals; it was a worshipful garden of tropical greenery. Agricultural and gardening journals praised the structure as “the only building of the kind in the world.” Quoting the Gardener’s Chronicle in 1882: “When a body is brought for interment, it is first taken to the conservatory which is in itself a paradise. The coffin is placed in the center of the auditorium when the final services are held. On either side are beds of blossoming flowers – camellias, calla lilies, rhododendrons, geraniums, and other hot-house plants. Here is also a large lemon tree in bud, fruit, or flower. Overhead are rustic hanging baskets, magnificent in variegated colors. Here too, we sit in sweet communion with those who have been transplanted to the great garden above.” Samuel Durant, in

The chapel’s roof is slate with a stone Latin cross at its peak

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his History of Oneida County, wrote of the conservatory’s vast collection of plants, flowers, both indigenous and exotic. He said the geraniums alone numbered 20,000. Various fragrances made a mourner feel peaceful. The magazine, The Casket, mentioned fountains, waterfalls, and singing birds. In prior years wakes or visitations were held in the home of the deceased; this change in burial procedure was extraordinary. Unsurprisingly, housing for a gardener on cemetery grounds was provided.

Located west of the entrance was the conservatory’s hot water heater—two coal-fired boilers that required about twenty-five tons of coal to operate each winter. The water circulated through 2000 feet of threeinch pipe located under the ash and walnut floor. The Daily Observer in March 1882 reported that “on many days, it was colder in the building than out of doors.” The cost to maintain the original building became prohibitive and in 1926, the original conservatory was demolished and replaced by a glass and steel frame structure. In 1977, the new conservatory was dismantled and the foliage was sold at public sale. The concrete slab floor remains on cemetery grounds at the original site, east of the entrance.

The Childs Chapel was built of sandstone quarried from nearby Clinton with a slate roof and incorporated a stone Latin cross at the roof peak. The building was a gift from the widow of Silas D. Childs. “Mrs. Childs has offered to pay the entire cost of the beautiful chapel and receiving tomb just built at our cemetery so that it may forever be a burial place, free to all, whether poor or rich, without charge.” She donated approximately $15,000 towards the cost and it was dedicated to the memory of her husband.

Silas Dickinson Childs was a partner in stagecoach lines. During the 1840s, Mr. Childs was President of the Utica Horticultural Society;

The original 1843 Allaire bell was moved to a new location near the chapel in a masonry structure that complements the chapel and landscape

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he had a private collection of forty different kinds of roses that he exhibited. He was an officer in the Utica Steam Cotton Mills in the 1860s and was one of the first trustees of the Savings Bank of Utica. Mr. Childs was a trustee of the cemetery, and in 1864, a member of the State Lunatic Asylum Board of Managers. Silas Childs died in 1866; the last name “Childs” remains prominent in Utica’s history.

Behind the chapel is a receiving vault where caskets are stored during the winter. There is room to house large excavating equipment; Forest Hill Cemetery loans equipment and storage space to other local cemeteries when needed. The vault was built in 1905 and designed by renowned Utica Architect Frederick Gouge. The limestone and sand used in its construction were hauled to the site by horse-drawn wagons.

The stained-glass windows attract one’s attention immediately; they measure seventeen feet tall and were created by Herbert W. Lewis. They express hope of resurrection, “by their richness of color, accuracy of drawing, and fitness of light that surpassed anything seen in this country. In the darkest day, the chapel is filled with a glowing light, which removes all gloom from the building while it detracts nothing from its dignity.”

Childs Chapel was restored in 1980 at a cost of $130,000. The Chapel can be used not only for funerals but for chamber music concerts and weddings. The building now offers the community a columbarium for the repose of ashes from cremation, currently a popular and less expensive choice.

I have Virginia Kelly to thank for her help in my writing this piece. Virginia Kelly researched and wrote the nomination which resulted in Forest Hill Cemetery being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. We, in Oneida County, are fortunate to reap the rewards of Virginia’s diligent, valuable, and accurate writings. •

Contemporary illustrations of Forest Hill Cemetery and the Conservatory