My Genealogy Hound

EVERGREEN CEMETERY, although situated near a little country village, is one of the most beautiful in western New York. It lies within the corporate limits of the village of Sinclairville, yet its situation is such as to retire it from the localities around it. It occupies a moderate eminence, which terminates a tongue of land that extends nearly across the valley of Mill Creek, crowding the waters of the stream into a narrow passage. A high and precipitous bank forms the southern boundary of the valley and also the northern limits of the cemetery. Mill Creek gathered into a pond extends along the base of the bank; there its waters darkly gleam from out the shade of overhanging elms and willows. A steep bank bounds the cemetery on the west, along which a race, issuing from the pond, extends to an ancient grist-mill. A sharp declivity substantially marks its southern limit. The cemetery is accessible, without hindrance, from the east, where a village street lies between it and the pleasant fields beyond.

“It would be difficult to choose a burial place so convenient of access, with such interesting surroundings, and at the same time a place of retireinent so well suited to its sober uses. The wild gorge, partly hidden by twisted birches and ragged hemlocks; the pond, dimly seen down deep in its shadows; the stream, the bridge that spans it, and the old mill are pleasing objects, in harmony with the peace and repose that pervades this abode of the dead. On every side are green fields and gently rising hills. As you look northward through foliage that fringes this border of the cemetery you have glimpses of the narrow, winding valley of Mill Creek, skirted with leafy verdure, leading to the dimly visible and far away hills that overlook Lake Erie. Southward, and near at hand, lies the pleasant village; its handsome academy flanked by church spires; its clean yards and painted houses among shadows of maples and elms. Beyond the village are meadows and pastures. There the valley broadens away to the southwest, until the distant Ellery hills bound the view.

“In the midst of verdant fields and inviting scenes like this, it is proper to consecrate the spot where the living may meet the dead and soothe our grief at the loss of friends, by laying them to rest in pleasant places.”