As provided by David Patrick
Starting in the 1830s, the garden style cemetery movement, which had begun in England, was taking hold in cities and towns around the country. These newly incorporated cemeteries would soon replace the old church cemeteries and village burying yards that had been haphazardly established at the beginning of a town’s early settlement. These municipal cemeteries were laid out in the style of a park that used well-planned landscaping and architectural design to create a truly magnificent, yet pleasant, cemetery. A board or association was in charge of planning, rules and upkeep. By the 1850s and 1860s, these types of cemeteries were common throughout the country. Glenwood, Maple Hill and St. Patrick’s Cemeteries were all established in 1859 and are examples of the garden style cemetery.
Glenwood Cemetery (1859, Champlain Village) - Glenwood Cemetery was established after the site was chosen by Pliny Moore descendant John H. Whiteside. Whiteside even donated the land for the cemetery. That same year, on December 19, the Glenwood Cemetery Association was formed and the following people were named as trustees: John H. Whiteside, George V. Hoyle, W. F. Cook, Timothy Hoyle, Hiram Dudley, Freeman Nye, James Averill, David Finley and William Dodds. The grounds were dedicated August 3, 1860. The first burial in Glenwood Cemetery was that of a child named A. Hitchcock.
In 1867, New York State passed a law stating that all of the burials in the Old Burying Yard had to be moved to Glenwood Cemetery and the land sold. A notice in the Champlain Journal of September 20, 1873, declared that the burials would be moved in the coming weeks: “NOTICE: Is hereby given that on the 1st day of October 1873, the Trustees of The Glenwood Cemetery Association of Champlain will proceed to remove the remains of all persons that can then be found in THE OLD BURYING YARD at said place, and deposit them within the grounds of said Association, in accordance with Chap 575, laws of 1867. D. FINLEY, Sec’y. / Champlain, 4th, Sept., 1873”. All of the graves in the Old Burying Yard were dug up and moved to the Glenwood Cemetery for reburial. Pliny Moore and his wife were among those moved and they received a new stone obelisk. Benjamin Forsyth’s grave was never located. There are surely other graves present on the property that were unmarked in 1873 and not moved. A few small fragments of cemetery stone were recently found when digging on the land.
In 1874, the burying yard land was sold to Timothy Hoyle and in 1895, his widow sold it to Dr. James Hackett. In 1905, Alexander McGregor owned the house before selling it again to the Hacketts who bought it in 1913. In 1919 the Hacketts sold the house to Oscar and Blandine Bredenberg. Oscar was the Plant Manager of the Sheridan Iron Works for many years and his brother Henrik operated a ski factory in the village. The Bredenbergs lived in the house for 45 years before selling it to John and Geraldine Rowe in 1964.
It should be noted that the Forsyth historic plaque was originally dedicated in 1938 at the entrance to Glenwood Cemetery. This was because Blandine Bredenberg, Oscar’s wife, did not want the plaque in her front yard. Hugh knew of this error but could do nothing. The plaque stood at Glenwood Cemetery until about the year 2000 when it was moved by the Rowes to its correct location.
A number of people buried here served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War. Those who served in the Revolutionary War include Pliny Moore, Dan Beaumont and Capt. John Corbin who was born in 1729 and whose daughter married Pliny Moore. This author is related to John Corbin and it is an honor to have eight generations of family interred in this cemetery. In the War of 1812, those serving include Aurelius Beaumont, Charles Bedlow (Bedloe), Uriah Bedlow, Abraham Brinkerhoff, William J. Churchill, Moses Cross, Josiah Corbin, Lucas Doolittle, Freeman Nye, Lorenzo Kellogg, Noadiah Moore and Joel Savage served, among others. In the Civil War, there was James Hubbell, Alfred Lapage (not found) and F. H. Pollard.