The roads had been cleared, with branches pushed to the sides, so I could make my way around the cemetery so long as I didn’t worry too much about scratching my car.  

The cemetery in Hudson is a fascinating place. The original part of the cemetery, which dates from the late 18th century, has been determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places by the New York State Historical Preservation Office for its amazing collection of funerary art. William Krattinger, Historic Preservation Specialist for the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, has called the Hudson City Cemetery “a virtual treasure trove for historians and enthusiasts of American funerary art.” It contains a wealth of markers and crypts that illustrate the themes and styles of this genre—from late 18th-century stones embellished by a master carver with winged effigies and other motifs typical of the period to an Egyptian Revival-style tomb, reflecting the romanticism that characterized antebellum America. Celebrated people are buried here, too, including Hudson River School painter Sanford Robinson Gifford.

The newer part of the cemetery—Cedar Park, established in the latter part of the 19th century—is significant, too, for its possible connection with Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture who designed Central Park and other parks throughout the country. The name and the design of Cedar Park reflect the taste and attitudes of the Victorian era in America. Typical of the cemeteries of that period, Cedar Park is not so much a graveyard as it is a park—an artfully landscaped green space, with winding drives and ornamental trees and shrubs, where visitors could come and enjoy the beauty and serenity of the surroundings and remember their loved ones.

Last week’s ice storm disrupted the beauty and serenity of the Hudson’s cemetery and took a horrible toll on the trees and shrubs—all more than a century old—that grace this remarkable place.