Hartsdale Pet Cemetery has been included in the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry. A brief ceremony to celebrate this momentous occasion is scheduled for MONDAY OCTOBER 30TH at 10 AM. Assembly Member Amy Paulin who proposed and sponsored our application will be here to present us with an official proclamation which is very appropriate since she has a plot at Hartsdale where her beloved toy poodle, Hercules, rests.
New York State’s Historic Business Preservation Registry is administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation and highlights businesses that have been in operation for at least 50 years and have contributed to their community’s history. Other businesses that have received this honor include The Capitol Theater (Port Chester), Tarrytown Music Hall (Tarrytown), Trustco Bank (Schenectady). Hunts Point Produce Market (Bronx), Wilson & Son Jewelers (Scarsdale), Cornell's Hardware (Eastchester), and South Ferry (Shelter Island).
A big thank you is owed to our longtime historian, Mary Thurston, who worked tirelessly on completing and filing the application.
Thanks to Mary, Hartsdale Pet Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the NYS Register of Historic Places in 2012. It is currently the only pet cemetery to be listed on either register.
Founded in 1896, Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, is the first planned commercial burial ground for animals in the United States and the oldest continuously operated non-human cemetery in the world. Located in the hamlet of Hartsdale within the village of Greenburgh in Westchester County, the cemetery plays a proactive role in promoting public awareness and appreciation not only for its place in American history but for the contributions of animals to society throughout time with guided tours and public events held on the grounds to foster plot-holder comradery and engagement with special cemetery projects. Today the beautiful hillside location, known as the “Peaceable Kingdom”, is the final resting place for more than 80,000 dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, reptiles, monkeys- and even a lion cub that lived at the Plaza Hotel with a Russian princess as well as the cremains of a full-grown Bengal tiger that grew up in an apartment in Harlem, New York.
source: Hartsdale Pet Cemetery
photos by Clarisel Gonzalez of a visit to Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, summer 2012
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