The Frankfort Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone, the famed frontiersman, and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors and a Vice President of the United States.
The cemetery is built on a bluff overlooking the Kentucky River with views of the Kentucky State Capitol, the Kentucky Governor's Mansion, downtown Frankfort, south Frankfort, and the Capitol District.
History The cemetery was created by Judge Mason Brown, son of statesman John Brown, inspired by a visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston. Brown enlisted other Frankfort civic leaders and on February 27, 1844, the Kentucky General Assembly approved the cemetery's incorporation. The property, then called Hunter's Garden, was purchased in 1845 for $3,801. Additional land was purchased in 1858 and in 1911 for a total of .
Brown hired Scottish-born landscape architect Robert Carmichael to design the cemetery. The cemetery is laid out in a style similar to Mount Auburn, with curving lanes, terraces and a circle of vaults. Carmichael imported and planted trees and flowering shrubs from the mountains of Kentucky, intending the cemetery to double as an arboretum in a time when residents could not easily travel to see mountain plants not native to the region. Carmichael is also buried in the cemetery.
There are numerous monuments and memoria in the cemetery. A central feature is the State Mound, featuring a Kentucky War Memorial designed by Robert E. Launitz and inscribed with the names of officers killed in numerous wars. During the American Civil War, Frankfort Cemetery was used for the final resting place of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Corporal Lyman B. Hannaford of the 103rd Ohio Infantry notes in his letter dated April 2, 1863, "They are planting (as soldiers term it) a good many soldiers here—almost one per day. That is a good many for the number of troops here."
Interments
Kentucky Governors
Nineteen Kentucky governors are buried there:
Other notable people Other notable people buried at Frankfort Cemetery include: Rufus B. Atwood, president of Kentucky State University Bland Ballard, soldier and statesman William T. Barry, member of the United States Senate and United States Postmaster General George M. Bibb, U.S. Senate and United States Secretary of the Treasury Daniel Boone, American pioneer Rebecca Boone, American pioneer and the wife of Daniel Boone John Brown, lawyer, statesman Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., U.S. Army general, World War II Johnson N. Camden Jr., U.S. Senator Henry Clay, Jr., soldier and statesman Martha Layne Collins, Governor Of Kentucky Henry Crist, Kentucky pioneer, member of the Kentucky General Assembly and the United States House of Representatives George Bibb Crittenden, Confederate Army general Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, Union Army general Anthony Crockett, Revolutionary War soldier and politician John Milton Elliott, judge, murdered Thomas Y. Fitzpatrick, U.S. Representative, County Judge, County Attorney Gilbert Genesta, magician, drowned Martin D. Hardin, politician Parker Watkins Hardin, politician, Attorney General of Kentucky 1879–1888 James Harlan Jr., state politician and judge Joel Tanner Hart, sculptor Elizabeth Ann Hulette, professional wrestling manager Enoch Edgar Hume, physician and former mayor of Frankfort, Kentucky Andrew J. James, lawyer and state representative, who served as Attorney General and as Secretary of State of Kentucky Willard Rouse Jillson, Kentucky historian, geologist Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President of the United States William Lindsay, U.S. Senate Humphrey Marshall, U.S. and Confederate States Congressman, Confederate Army general Thomas Francis Marshall, lawyer, politician, Kentucky House of Representatives John Calvin Mason, attorney, U.S. Representative Silas B. Mason, construction contractor who built the Grand Coulee Dam, racehorse owner/breeder who won the 1933 Preakness Stakes Samuel McKee, law, U.S. Representative Presley O'Bannon, U.S. Marine credited as first to raise the American flag over foreign soil in 1805 at the Battle of Derna. Theodore O'Hara, poet, newspaperman, soldier Lucy Phenton Pattie (1842–1922), the only honorary initiated female member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity Thomas H. Paynter, U.S. Senate Paul Sawyier, Kentucky artist Solomon P. Sharp, Attorney General of Kentucky murdered in the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy John Simpson, soldier, member of the Kentucky General Assembly, Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, and Congressman-elect Daniel Weisiger Swigert (1833–1912), Thoroughbred racehorse breeder, owner of Elmendorf Farm Isham Talbot, U.S. Senate Landon Addison Thomas, businessman and member of the Kentucky General Assembly from Frankfort, Kentucky Thomas Todd, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court South Trimble, Kentucky House of Representatives, U.S. Representative, Clerk of the United States House of Representatives Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman, businesswoman and philanthropist from Frankfort, Kentucky, was an early supporter of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) John White, served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and in the U.S. House, where he served as Speaker of the House
Gallery
See also List of burial places of presidents and vice presidents of the United States List of burial places of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
References
External links
Frankfort Cemetery Map & Photos
Daniel Boone's Grave