Rockville Cemetery (Maryland)
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Rockville Cemetery is a cemetery in Rockville, Maryland, United States. It is the oldest burial ground in the Rockville community. It sometimes is referred to as Rockville Union Cemetery.
Physical features
Rockville Cemetery is located on the eastern edge of Rockville<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory>Rockville Cemetery: Our History and Function Accessed March 12, 2023</ref> at 1350 Baltimore Road, adjacent to the Rockville Civic Center. It occupies Template:Convert in two sections, an older, western or upper section of Template:Convert and a newer, eastern or lower section of almost Template:Convert. The western or upper section is an example of the "rural cemetery" movement with a picturesque landscape, curving roads, monuments, and plantings, while the eastern or lower section is a lawn cemetery.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> The two sections are divided by both a stream and a dramatic change in elevation between the higher western and lower eastern sections.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
History
The Anglican Prince George's Parish established a chapel in what is now the western or upper section of Rockville Cemetery in 1738, and by around 1740 a graveyard had been established as burials began on the chapel's grounds;<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> the oldest surviving stone grave marker dates to 1752.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> Almost a century later, Christ Episcopal Church moved from the old chapel into the City of Rockville, but burials continued at the graveyard.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
Ownership of the cemetery changed in 1880, when five Protestant denominations incorporated the Rockville Cemetery Association of Montgomery County and made the cemetery a community burial space open to all.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> By that time, the neglected cemetery had fallen into disrepair and become a veritable wilderness, but during the 1880s the new ownership revitalized interest in its care and maintenance.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> A women's group, the Rockville Union Cemetery Association, took responsibility for the management and maintenance of the cemetery and beautified the property.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> In 1889, a caretaker's cottage and outbuilding were constructed at the cemetery.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
Demand for space led to the expansion of Rockville Cemetery to include its lower, eastern section, which was laid out in 1936.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> The City of Rockville annexed the cemetery in 1984.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
Interest in maintenance of the cemetery waned again, and by the late 20th century it again had fallen into disrepair.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> Public outcry over its physical condition led to the incorporation in 2001 of the nonprofit Rockville Cemetery Association, Inc.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> The association reinvigorated efforts to maintain the property and improve its appearance, overseeing repairs to the 1889 caretaker's cottage and outbuilding, renovation of the cemetery's internal roads, drainage improvements, the repair of hundreds of damaged and fallen tombstones, and the installation of road signs to direct visitors to the graves of their loved ones and to those of notable people buried at the cemetery.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
The Rockville Cemetery Association's financial position improved significantly between 2014 and 2020 thanks to substantial growth in grave sales and burials.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> During these years, the Association continued to convert all of the cemetery's records to a digital format, standardized grave site codification, created high-quality section maps, expanded and enhanced the cemetery's website, refurbished and upgraded the caretaker's cottage and gave it a public water connection, completed the planting of more than 30 trees, and expanded the cemetery's program of community events.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
Notable burials
More than 4,600 people are buried at Rockville Cemetery.<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/> Notable burials include:
- Upton Beall (1770–1827), second clerk of the court of Montgomery County<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
- Richard Johns Bowie (1807–1881), U.S Congressman (1849–1853), chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals (1861–1867)<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
- Stephen Clusky Cromwell, Jr. (1925–2015), first president of the Rockville Cemetery Association (2001–2014) and descendant of Rebecca Viers<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
- John G. England (1845–1913), mayor of Rockville (1894–1896)<ref name=politicalgraveyard>The Political Graveyard Montgomery County, Md. Accessed March 14, 2023</ref>
- John Trumbull Garvin (1892-1943), American diplomat<ref name=politicalgraveyard/>
- John Harding (1685–1752), whose tombstone is the oldest remaining stone marker in the cemetery<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
- Walter Johnson (1887–1946), Hall-of-Fame pitcher for the Washington Senators, manager of the Senators and the Cleveland Indians,<ref name="wpjohnson">Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 348. On Google Books</ref> and Montgomery County commissioner<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
- William Pinckney Mason (1843–1922), Confederate States Navy officer
- Paul Peck (1889–1912), aviation pioneer
- E. Barrett Prettyman (1891–1971), senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1962–1971)
- E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. (1925–2016), prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer, son of E. Barrett Prettyman
- Members of the Pumphrey family of carpenters and undertakersTemplate:Citation needed
- Edward Elisha Stonestreet (1830–1903), Rockville physician and town councilman<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
- Rebecca Thomas Viers née Bialys (1833–1918), leader of the Rockville Union Cemetery Association<ref name=rockvillecemeteryourhistory/>
The author F. Scott Fitzgerald was buried in Rockville Cemetery upon his death in 1940, as was his wife Zelda Fitzgerald, who died in 1948. Their remains were moved to Saint Mary's Cemetery, also in Rockville, in 1975.