This book explores Philadelphia’s lost and neglected cemeteries, revealing a hidden history of change, decay, and restoration.
Since its inception, Philadelphia has created spaces for its dead. Some still exist, but many are gone or have been neglected and teeter on the edge of oblivion. Between 1850 and 1950, cemeteries across the nation disappeared as cities grew—developers wanted the land. Accompanied by Snyder’s photographs, the reader is taken through Philadelphia and surrounding areas, examining cemeteries of all sizes and eras—many that were destroyed in the name of progress.
Ben Franklin said, “Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have.”
In this book we see Philadelphia cemeteries that have fallen on hard times, properties that failed to provide the “perpetual care” they promised. We visit a graveyard under a playground, tombstones in the Delaware River, and an abandoned burial ground in the woods.
While many of these accounts make us question our ancestors’ motives, some recent examples provide hope. In some cases, volunteers stabilize faltering properties, restore them, and sometimes even turn them back into active cemeteries. Ben Franklin would have been proud.