Mount Moriah Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery that spans the border between Southwest Philadelphia and Yeadon, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1855 and is the largest cemetery in Pennsylvania. It is 200 acres in size and contains 150,000 burials. It differed from Philadelphia's other rural cemeteries such as Laurel Hill Cemetery and the Woodlands Cemetery in that it was easily accessible by streetcar; allowed burials of African-Americans, Jews and Muslims;[3] and catered to a more middle-class clientele.[4]
The cemetery closed its gates in April 2011 and had no owner when the last member of the board of directors died. It became wildly overgrown with vegetation, was a site for illegal dumping, and the buildings, graves and monuments fell into disrepair. A non-profit organization called The Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery formed to clear overgrown brush, maintain graves, stabilize the crumbling gatehouse and raise money for a petition to place the cemetery on the National Register of Historic Places. The Orphans Court of Philadelphia granted a second organization, the Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation, a receivership in 2014.
The cemetery became overgrown and a site of illegal dumping before the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery initiated clean up efforts
Description
The cemetery originally occupied 54 acres but grew to approximately 200 acres, with some estimates as high as 380 acres,[1] making it the largest cemetery in Pennsylvania.[5] Philadelphia and Yeadon share almost equal shares of the cemetery with Cobbs Creek separating the two sides. After the construction of Cobbs Creek Parkway, the cemetery is slightly less than 160 acres.
A Norman Castellatedbrownstone gatehouse[6] designed by Stephen Decatur Button[7] was built at the entrance on Islington Lane, today known as Kingsessing Avenue. A single gated arch was topped with an imposing statue of Father Time. The statue was purchased, removed from the gate and placed atop the grave of John H. Jones.
The Circle of St. John with the Schnider Monument in the center
The size of the cemetery made it ideal for churches and fraternal organizations that wanted to purchase large plots for their members. The Free and Accepted Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Elks,[13] Actors' Order of Friendship[14] and Order of United American Mechanics all purchased large lots in the cemetery.[15] Local private institutions, including the Presbyterian Home for Widows and Single Women and the Seaman's Church Institute also purchased large lots.[13]
History
This statue of Father Time adorns the grave of John H. Jones. It used to sit atop the entrance gate
In 1856, the remains of Betsy Ross and her third husband John Claypoole were moved from the Free Quaker Burying Ground in Philadelphia to Mount Moriah.[17] The practice of cemeteries purchasing the remains of famous historical individuals was common in order to drive additional business. The Daughters of the American Revolution erected a flagpole at the site of her grave in her memory.[13]
The Soldiers' Lot contains the graves of 404 Union Soldiers and 2 Confederate SoldiersThe Naval Plot contains 2,400 U.S. Navy officers and seamen
Mount Moriah is a part of the United States National Cemetery System.[18] In 1864, the United States Federal Government purchased two parcels of land within Mount Moriah Cemetery. The Soldiers' Lot on the Philadelphia side of the cemetery was purchased for soldiers who died at local military hospitals and contains 404 Union Army soldiers. The lot initially included the remains of six Confederate soldiers,[19] however in 1885 all but two were reinterred at Philadelphia National Cemetery.[20] The Naval Plot on the Yeadon side of the cemetery is ten acres in size and was purchased for the reinterment of bodies previously buried at the U.S. Naval Home. The Naval Plot today contains 2,400 U.S. Navy officers and seamen.[8]
In the early 1870s, Henry Jones, an affluent African-American man who worked as a caterer, purchased a lot for burial in Mount Moriah Cemetery. After his death in 1875, his funeral procession was blocked from entering the cemetery by white lot owners and cemetery authorities who refused to bury him because of his race.[21] A lawsuit was filed against the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association and in 1876 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court[22] ruled that Jones had the right to be buried in the cemetery.[23] During the court case, his body was stored at a funeral vault at Lebanon Cemetery in Philadelphia. Jones' family had decided to bury him at Lebanon Cemetery but he may have been buried at the Church of St. James the Less cemetery in Philadelphia instead.[22]
In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration program performed work at Mount Moriah Cemetery to improve the drainage system throughout the cemetery.[24]
In 1970, thieves stole "The Silent Sentry" statue from Mount Moriah and attempted to sell it for scrap metal. It was relocated and rededicated in 2013 in Laurel Hill Cemetery
In 1970, a 700-pound, 7 foot 2 inch high bronze statue of a Civil War soldier was removed from its base and stolen by thieves. The statue was named "The Silent Sentry", cast at the Bureau Brothers Foundry and dedicated in 1883. It was originally placed in the Soldiers' Home of Philadelphia burial plot. The thieves attempted to sell the statue for scrap metal to a Camden, New Jersey, scrap yard but the scrap dealer notified the authorities.[25] It was recovered and repaired by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. In 2013, the statue was relocated and rededicated in Laurel Hill Cemetery.[26]
In December 1975, Betsy Ross's descendants petitioned to have her remains moved to the Betsy Ross House. The headstone at her grave had been stolen years before.[24] A physical anthropologist, Dr. Alan Mann, moved some bones in 1976 from the estimated vicinity of her grave but was unable to determine whether they belonged to Ross or not.[27]
Closure and preservation efforts
Horatio Jones, the last known member of the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association, died in 2004 and the cemetery closed its gates in 2011 in a unique legal situation having no known owner. In 2012, due to complaints and reports of the deteriorating situation, Philadelphia and Yeadon formed the Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation, a 7-member board charged with building a redevelopment plan for the cemetery.[28] In 2014, Philadelphia Orphan's Court appointed Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation as receiver for the long neglected cemetery.[29] The Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, Inc., a non-profit organization, held regular restoration events and progress was made to return the cemetery to normal condition. Expected annual maintenance costs are about $500,000.[30]
While Mount Moriah ceased to be an active burial ground after 2011, the Orphan's Court has permitted two interments to take place. Paulette Rhone, the president of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, died in February 2019. The Friends petitioned the Orphan's Court to allow her burial in the cemetery.[32] She was interred in the grave site next to her late husband.[33] Her efforts on behalf of the cemetery and the community were honored in August 2019 by symbolically renaming the section of Kingsessing Avenue in front of the cemetery "Paulette Rhone Place."[34] Another interment was permitted in July 2024 when almost 500 sets of bones, disinterred from the former location of First Baptist Church cemetery in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, were re-interred in Mount Moriah Cemetery. The bones had been in storage since 2017 when they were unearthed during the construction of apartments. The bones were re-buried in the First Baptist Church section of Mount Moriah where the majority of remains from the original First Baptist Church cemetery had been re-interred in 1860.[35]
Samuel Miles (1739–1805), French & Indian War officer, Revolutionary War officer, Philadelphia civic activist, 1st Troop Captain (1786–1791), Mayor (1790–1791), and nation's first faithless elector, presidential election, 1796.
^Deardorff, Nora R. (July 31, 1914), City of Philadelphia Death Certificate, Registered number:18600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Bureau of Vital Statistics, Department of Health
