Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Cemetery, Site

Location

89 N Main St, Milford, NY 13807, USA

Lat/Long

42.591979013045, -74.944961634028

Grant Recipient

Milford Cemetery Association Inc.

Incorporated in 1894, the Milford Cemetery was previously known as the Methodist Burial Ground and used as a site of interment going back as far as the early 19^th century. The first known burial was Jerusha Lee, who passed away in September of 1807. For grave marker aficionados of the southern tier and central New York, her stone may include some familiar iconography. It appears the carver belonged to the “Coffin Man” group: a group of itinerant tablet carvers notable for their unique style, which included artists like “Coffin man” (or J.W. Stewart, 2^nd,) “Open Urn” and “Eclectic Man,” who have since been nicknamed after certain stylistic preferences seen in their works. Jerusha’s stone includes four coffins etched into the stone, along with the added inscription, “& three children by her side,” demonstrating the harsh realities of life in this region during the early 19th century.

Since that earliest known burial, the Milford Cemetery has served as the final resting place for many of the communities’ residents. This includes veterans of the Revolutionary War and nearly every subsequent conflict the United States has been involved in since.