Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine)

Evergreen Cemetery is a garden-style cemetery on Stevens Avenue in the Deering neighborhood of Portland, Maine. With 239 acres (97 ha) of land, it is the largest cemetery in the state. Established in 1855, in what was then Westbrook, the cemetery is home to one of the state's most prominent collections of funerary art. The 140-acre (57 ha) historical portion of the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. History The cemetery was established in 1855 in Saccarappa (Westbrook) and became the area's main cemetery after the Western Cemetery in downtown Portland. The original parcel appears to have been about 45 acres (18 ha), which was repeatedly enlarged beginning about 1869. As of March 2011, only 110 acres (45 ha) were used for cemetery-related activities. The cemetery office holds the records for Forest City Cemetery in South Portland. In April 2014, it was announced the cemetery would add an additional 800 to 1,000 grave sites near the main entrance while also adding a columbarium, which holds cremated remains above ground. As of 2014, an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 people were interred in the cemetery. Description The main areas of the cemetery are laid out in with winding curvilinear paths, typical of the rural cemetery movement popular in the 19th century, while later sections of the cemetery are typically laid out in a more rectilinear fashion. A number of architecturally significant mausoleums are located in the cemetery, the most prominent of which are the Chisholm Tomb and the F.O.J. Smith Tomb; the former is a small-scale Classical Revival replica of the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple in Nîmes, France. Wilde Memorial Chapel Wilde Memorial Chapel is a Gothic-style chapel. It was built as a mortuary chapel by Falmouth resident Mary Ellen Lunt Wilde in 1890. It was designed by Portland architect Frederick A. Tompson and gifted to the city in 1902. The granite building is used for both memorial and wedding services, with a maximum capacity of 105. Civil War veterans The cemetery contains the remains of about 1,400 veterans of the American Civil War. A memorial to Civil War veterans was donated by brothers Henry (then governor of Maine) and Judge Nathan Cleaves, and dedicated on May 30, 1895. The monument consists of a metal soldier standing atop a granite base. Notable interments John Appleton, congressman and assistant secretary of state James Phinney Baxter, businessman and Mayor of Portland Carroll Lynwood Beedy, congressman Hugh J. Chisholm, paper magnate Asa William Henry Clapp, congressman Seth F. Clark, state legislator George Cleeve, settler and founder of Portland Nathan Clifford, US attorney general and associate justice of the US Supreme Court Lydia Neal Dennett, abolitionist and suffragist Neal Dow, mayor, general, candidate for president, and "father" of the Prohibition Movement Francis H. Fassett, architect Francis Fessenden, general James D. Fessenden, general Samuel Fessenden, lieutenant Samuel C. Fessenden, congressman Thomas Amory Deblois Fessenden, congressman William P. Fessenden, congressman, senator and secretary of the treasury Frank Fixaris, sportscaster Elbridge Gerry, congressman Charles Goddard (1879–1951), playwright and screenwriter Robert Christian Hale, lieutenant and congressman Charles Badger Hall, US Army major general Obed Hall, congressman Asher Crosby Hinds, congressman Darius H. Ingraham, diplomat, lawyer, mayor Seth Larrabee, attorney Charles Thornton Libby, historian, genealogist and lawyer Mary King Longfellow, painter John Lynch, congressman Charles Mattocks, general Joseph C. Noyes, congressman Albion Parris, governor, congressman, judge. John J. Perry, congressman William Lebaron Putnam, mayor Thomas Brackett Reed, congressman and speaker of the US House of Representatives Henry P. Rines, hotelier Abner O. Shaw, physician to Joshua Chamberlain in the Civil War with the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment Ether Shepley, senator George Foster Shepley, general Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith, congressman John Calvin Stevens, architect Lorenzo De Medici Sweat, congressman Henry Goddard Thomas, general William W. Thomas Jr., politician Charles W. Walton, congressman Gallery See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Maine List of burial places of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Notes External links Friends of Evergreen Cemetery Evergreen Cemetery at Find a Grave Portland Trails – Evergreen Cemetery