HISTORY

.

A rare photo of the esteemed Dr. Samuel Johnson whose simple act of kindness more than one hundred years ago led to the establishment of America's first pet cemetery.

Besides his private practice, Dr. Johnson was Professor of Veterinary Surgery at New York University, and served as the first official veterinarian of the State of New York. He was also a pioneer in the field of animal welfare and was instrumental in founding the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Despite the doctor's highly successful career, today he is most remembered for something he had never really planned; the first - and finest - pet cemetery in the United States.

One day in 1896, a distressed client of Dr. Johnson's paid a call to his office with an urgent problem. Her dog had just died and she wanted to give it a proper burial; but there was no way for this to be accomplished legally in the city of New York. The woman had contemplated trying to find a vacant piece of ground in which to bury the dog, but this would have involved a great deal of subterfuge even if it had not been against health department laws. And besides, the land would most surely have been built on sooner or later, for the concrete and steel metropolis was burgeoning in all directions. After considering the problem, the compassionate doctor came up with a solution. If the woman wanted to make the trip up to Hartsdale, he would be pleased to allow her to bury the animal in his apple orchard. The distraught woman gratefully accepted, and made the sad journey to the little hamlet in Westchester.

While the woman's name has been lost in the mists of time, and there are no records of the burial and no stone marks its location, we can be certain that her pet is still safe somewhere in the Peaceable Kingdom.

This burial was not intended to be the beginning of a pet cemetery, but a short time later Dr. Johnson innocently gave impetus to the idea. One day, while having lunch with a reporter friend, the doctor casually told the story of the woman's plight and the dog's burial. Within a few days, much to Dr. Johnson's surprise, the story appeared in print. And to his further surprise, he soon found himself being contacted by many people who were looking for a place to bury their beloved pets. It was almost as if he had found a cure for a dreaded disease; this was something people deeply wanted and needed - and greeted with great relief. Before long, Dr. Johnson had set aside a three-acre section of the apple orchard and it began to take the look of a cemetery, dotted with markers and flower arrangements identifying the graves of pets.  By 1905, Dr. Johnson’s orchard had gained enough recognition to be written about in The New York Times.  On September 3 of that year a feature story appeared in the paper under the headline “A Canine Cemetery of Three Acres in Which Scores of Pets Are Interred – Hundred of Dollars Spent on Graves and Graves by Their Sorrowing Owners.”

This article spoke of dogs being “laid away with deepest regret and strong affection.’  It also reported that, while the cemetery had started with the burial of dogs, and indeed had – and still has – the word “canine as part of its name, it was actually open to cats and other animals.

On May 14, 1914, Dr. Johnson – to the great relief of those who had pets at Hartsdale – incorporated the Hartsdale Canine Cemetery.  Until that time there were no guarantees that the cemetery would remain in existence, and whatever attention the graves got depended upon each individual owner.  Incorporation meant that burial deeds were issued and perpetual care and the services of a full-time caretaker were provided.  It meant that the land would be protected forever as a resting place for the nearly one thousand pets already there, and for the thousands that would join them in the future.

The first expansion of the cemetery included the installation of new paths and planting of trees (circa 1922).

Today, over a century later, this beautiful hillside location, known as The Peaceable Kingdom , is the final resting place for nearly 70,000 pets including dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and even a lion cub. And although some of the world 's most renowned people - from Diana Ross and Mariah Carey to the late Robert Merrill and Kate Smith - have their pets buried at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery - pet lovers from every station of life have had pets buried and cremated here, too. The common thread is that all were special and loved. Generations of pet owners have embraced these pet animals and made them part of their families.

HISTORY
Citing public health concerns in the late 1800's, the City of New York banned the burial of animals within its limits.  The new law left pet lovers agonizing over what to do when their animal friends had died. Dr. Johnson changed all that. Samuel King Johnson had a long and distinguished career in the field of veterinary medicine, having not only served a Professor of Veterinary Surgery at the New York Animal Hospital, but also as a board member of the newly formed ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  Yet this is not what he is remembered for today.  For as fate would have it, he owned a small apple orchard on a rough hillside  in Hartsdale, Westchester County, just twenty-five miles north from the City.  In 1896, a distraught client called on Johnson at his Manhattan office to tearfully relate how her beloved dog had just died.  In the City, she had little recourse but to put her pet out with the garbage, as dictated by law, and it was illegal to bury animals in human cemeteries or in public parks. Sympathetic to her plight, the veterinarian invited her to inter her pet at his orchard.  This singular burial (image left) was not intended to be the beginning of a pet cemetery, but a short time later Dr. Johnson unwittingly gave impetus to the idea when he had lunch with a reporter friend. In the course of their casual conversation, Johnson related the tale of the burial, and the next thing he knew, the story appeared in print.  To his surprise, he found himself receiving requests from many others seeking a secure place to put their own beloved pets to rest. Requests for burials continued, prompting Johnson to set aside a three-acre section of the orchard, and he formalized a procedure whereby deceased pets were delivered to his clinic on Twenty-Fift h Street in Manhattan. From there, they were shipped to Hartsdale by train, and pet owners followed up separately by horse-drawn carriage.   Word of the little orchard continued to spread, and a second feature published in the New York Times in 1905 (below) described one of the many regular funerals taking place at the new “canine cemetery:” They came by carriage, which had drawn black curtains. It was a wet, gusty April afternoon, and little eddies of vapor glistened now and again. F our men filed from the carriage and huddled toward its rear, collars up, coats buttoned tight against the swirling dampness. They shouldered a small, wreath-covered casket and slowly marched into the cemetery. Two women walked behind, carrying flowers and weeping silently.  They were burying their dog. There was no officiating clergyman; no services at the grave. The whole ceremony lasted only about five minutes   The first expansion of the cemetery included the installation of new paths and planting of trees (circa 1922). , and yet it was a remarkably fine funeral. The Cemetery was officially incorporated in 1914, ensuring its perpetual survival as a dignified resting place for animals. Additional acres of the orchard were converted for interments, the old wooden picket fence was replaced with one made of iron, new walkways were cleared, and scores of trees planted. Within three years of incorporation (and despite World War I waging overseas), the number of graves grew from three hundred to over two thousand.  On any sunny day, the grounds bustled with visitors.   The first expansion of the cemetery included the installation of new paths and planting of trees (circa 1922). In the century to come, the Peaceable Kingdom would receive pets from all over the world.  Dogs and cats, both pedigreed and of mixed-heritage, rest side by side here--not to mention horses, monkeys, and even a lion who lived in a suite at the Plaza Hotel.  Hartsdale's plot-holders have been an equally diverse bunch, with some famous for their work in theatre, movies, literature, sports, or philanthropy--and many more are everyday working people possessed of an equally exemplary devotion to their animals.   The first expansion of the cemetery included the installation of new paths and planting of trees (circa 1922). Today, Hartsdale Pet Cemetery enjoys both national and worldwide recognition as the premiere pet burial ground in America, and is listed along with the Taj Mahal in India and Egypt's Great Pyramids of Giza as one of the top ten cemeteries in the world, animal or human.*  Indeed, a casual stroll through the cemetery is nothing short of a trip back in time, as you'll find monuments in all shapes and sizes, from the humblest to the grandest, with many bearing messages that are timelessly poignant.  Regardless of tone or style, the messages left by four generations of Hartsdale plot-holders contain a common thread, one which binds us not only to the past but to each other in the present–the love for an animal.   The first expansion of the cemetery included the installation of new paths and planting of trees (circa 1922).