The Peacable Kingdom: The Hartsdale Pet Cemetery - Hartsdale, NY 10530

One of the major sights of interest in Hartsdale, NY is the Hartsdale Canine Cemetery. Established in 1896, Hartsdale Canine Cemetery has the distinction of being the nations first pet cemetery. It all began by accident when Dr. Samuel Johnson, a practicing veterinarian in Manhattan and renowned professor of veterinary surgery at New York Hospital offered a spot in his apple orchard located in the remote countryside of Hartsdale, NY to a client who wanted a proper burial for her dog. If the woman was willing to make the trip, he was happy to allow her to bury her best friend there.

Life went on as usual for Dr. Johnson and his apple orchard until he casually mentioned the incident to a reporter – promptly did what reporters do best – put the story in print. As a result, Dr. Johnson was suddenly deluged with requests from grieving pet owners requesting the same service. Thus was born the Hartsdale Canine Cemetery. Although it is called a “canine cemetery” many pets including a pet lion are buried there. Some people have even had their cremated remains placed here with their beloved pets. Early pictures of the cemetery show that wire baskets often marked the plots and headstones dot the landscape. It had the look of a typical rural cemetery. In 1905 the Hartsdale Cemetery was written up in the New York Times and in 1914 the Canine Pet Cemetery was finally incorporated in order to insure that the land would always be utilized for pet burial.

By the end of World War I over 2000 burials had taken place and the stories of the feats of War Dogs operating with the Red Cross had caught the public attention. A group of plot owners felt that a memorial to these wonderful dogs was warranted. A competition was held to determine who would build the monument. Robert Caterson won this competition. Caterson was a well known artist who had been involved with the building of Grand Central Station. The bronze statue of a German shepherd wearing Red Cross markings standing atop a 10 foot monument of granite dominates the scene at the cemetery. At his feet are a canteen and soldier’s helmet. These two objects are highly symbolic of the role that a Red Cross dog played in a combat situation. Dogs often carried water and spirits to the wounded and when they found a survivor, they would bring an object belonging to the victim back to their handler to inform them that they had found a live victim in need of help. The hero canines are honored every year on Memorial Day by the American Legion Post 8 of New Rochelle.

On a personal note, my mother had her beloved German Shepherd/Labrador mix buried at Hartsdale. A friend of mine has her wonderful golden-mix (Whisky) buried at Hartsdale as well. They also cared for the remains of three of my dogs, Houdini, Maggie and Harley – to whom I wrote a memorial when I first started blogging on AR.

The cemetery is truly a beautiful place and a site well worth visiting if you are in the area. The cemetery tells the story of over 100,000 pets and their families. Many famous animals and famous people’s animals were laid to rest there. For example Boots – a movie star who sold $9 million in war bonds during World War II is buried at Hartsdale.

For more information go to the Hartsdale Cemetery web site.

Much of the information for this blog was derived from Dr. Johnson’s Apple Orchard: The Story of America’s First Pet Cemetery by Edward C. Martin, Jr.