Since its inception, Cedar Hill Cemetery has gone through many changes, including seven additions to its burial grounds over nearly 100 years. One of the first monuments erected was the Soldiers Monument in 1878, which honored soldiers who perished in the Civil War and Mexican-American War. Over the years, more deceased soldiers from other major wars were added.

Today, Cedar Hill has what the board believes to be the only mausoleum in Clinton County.

And, as of Sept. 1, the only pet cemetery in the county will join it. Board President Richard Bowman said customers will be able to purchase benches at the pet cemetery to memorialize a family member or pet. There will be six benches total in the pet cemetery.

The Cedar Hill Cemetery Association was incorporated in 1870. Before that, the cemetery’s history booklet notes, the residents of lower Nittany Valley had no place of interment, except for the cemeteries in Lock Haven and Bald Eagle Valley. But all those cemeteries were crowded and not well managed, the booklet says. In fact, those places had no charter or title to protect the land from being bought out from under them.

Hugh Conley, one of the five original managers of the association, was the first person to be buried at Cedar Hill, besides the remains of a small child.

Over the years, the remains of early settlers of the valley, their offspring and out-of-town strangers were laid to rest in the cemetery. Most notably, three members of the Chisholm family–victims of a gruesome mob-driven murder in 1877 Mississippi–were buried there.

In 1927, part of the route of the annual Memorial Day parade was through the cemetery, and ice cream vendors dotted the path while the Boy Scouts marched in uniform, other clubs showed off, bands played and military units appeared. The parade would always end at the Soldiers Monument, where people would make speeches and honor the dead.

The Great Depression hit the area hard, and during the 1940s the board prepared for future threats of economic recession by putting money in U.S. defense savings bonds and the Salona Mutual Water Association.

With the Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War all occurring in the span of 25 years, the cemetery began to fill up quickly. During the 1950s and 1960s, grave and tombstone upkeep became a priority, with Edith Everhart donating money for a tombstone maintenance fund. In 1969, the cemetery established the “Green Lawn” on newly acquired land, a space with ground-level or close to ground-level plaques that became very popular.

PHOTO PROVIDED resting paws

During the late 1970s, the cemetery board members stopped paying themselves and continued their positions as community service. From 1977 to 1988, a group of young people from a youth training program run by the government restored many of the 1,200 sinking headstones and beautified the cemetery with landscaping and decorating.

And in 1978, Cedar Hill gained a mausoleum, as interest for above-ground burials had been growing. In 1980, a donation by Richard Bowman paid for a parking space near the mausoleum.

In fact, the mausoleum still has around 214 spots available in it, said Board Director Gail Frye.

But both Bowman and Frye said the demand for cremation has only risen over the years, prompting the board to set aside a dedicated one-acre plot of land next to the pet cemetery for cremation burials.

Another development in the cemetery is new markers for each burial section of the vast property. There are 22 markers total.

“It’s so people can navigate the cemetery better… so (the deceased’s) loved ones can find them,” said Bowman.

In 2016, the board put an office building on the property so members could conduct business affairs at the cemetery. And about three or four years ago, Bowman said, Bill and Bonnie Vonada donated a new tool shed.

All one and a-third miles of road that run through the cemetery are newly paved. That project began in 2015 and wrapped up in 2017. “We’ve got all the roads repaved now,” Frye said.

Bowman said he would like to thank the Clinton County Community Foundation and the Lamar Township supervisors for all their help.

“They’ve been very gracious” in donating money for capital improvements, he said.

Cedar Hill Cemetery, he said, is in good shape. “We’re not drowning in debt,” it’s well managed and the board keeps the place up, he said.

Other members of the Cedar Hill Cemetery Association are Vice President Robert Gilmore, Secretary Dennis Mann, Treasurer Karol Bowman, Grant Miller, and Richard Long.