New Helvetia Cemetery
Details
Establishedc. 1845
Closed1912
Location
924 Alhambra Boulevard,
Sacramento, California, U.S.
CountryUnited States
Coordinates38°34′23″N 121°27′50″W / 38.57316°N 121.46399°W / 38.57316; -121.46399
TypePrivate (1845–1859),
Public (1860–1912)
Size20 acres (8.1 ha)
No. of gravesapprox. 5000
Find a GraveNew Helvetia Cemetery
Reference no.592[1]

New Helvetia Cemetery, initially named Sutter Fort Burying Ground, is a defunct cemetery founded in c. 1845 and closed in 1912, formerly located at northeast corner of Alhambra Boulevard and J Street (present-day 924 Alhambra Boulevard) in the East Sacramento neighborhood of Sacramento, California.[2] It was the first cemetery in the city of Sacramento.[2]

The site is now Sutter Middle School, and has a historic plaque.[3] It is listed as a California Historical Landmark (number 592), by the California Office of Historic Preservation since May 22, 1957.[1][4]

History

The New Helvetia cemetery was founded by Swiss pioneer John A. Sutter in c. 1845 (some sources state 1848),[5] under the name the Sutter Fort Burying Ground (or Sutter Burying Ground), and in 1850 the name was changed to the New Helvetia Cemetery when Sutter donated the land.[2][6][7][8] The name New Helvetia (or New Switzerland) was also used by Sutter for a 19th-century Alta California settlement (part of present-day East Sacramento) founded in August 1839. The earliest graves in this cemetery were shallow and marked with wooden boards.[2] This land often flooded, so buried bodies were often moved and reinterred to Sacramento Historic City Cemetery and the records were not often kept.[2] Adjacent to the cemetery was the New Helvetia Park picnic grounds,[9] and Chevra Kaddisha Cemetery, the first Jewish cemetery in California was located across the street.[6]

In 1850, a cholera outbreak swept through the city and some 800 people were buried in a mass grave at New Helvetia Cemetery.[2] Other people buried here included Chinese miners, indigent burials, and the people killed during the 1850 Squatters' riot.[10][11] The northeast corner of the cemetery was specifically designated for Chinese burials.[6] After 1860, the cemetery was deeded to the city.[3] On April 29, 1861, a statue of the State of California (number CCXLIII) gave permission to disinter the early burials from this cemetery, in order to be "laid out and arranged in a proper manner".[12] Because of the early years of flooding issues, there was continued talk of abandonment and elimination of the cemetery.[6]

It stopped operating as a cemetery in 1912.[3][6] Some graves were relocated to East Lawn Memorial Park,[11] and Sacramento Historic City Cemetery; the headstones had been stacked and left by the side of the street by the city, many headstones were moved to private houses and used as a building material.[13] The Sacramento County Cemetery Advisory Commission has been working to find the old headstones from New Helvetia, as of 2016 they had recovered 72.[13]

By 1945, the land was used as a park.[14] In 1956, the land was used to make way for the freeway and the creation of Sutter Middle School.[10][9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "New Helvetia Cemetery". CA State Parks. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jenner, Gail L. (2021-09-15). What Lies Beneath: California Pioneer Cemeteries and Graveyards. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 262. ISBN 978-1-4930-4896-0.
  3. 1 2 3 "Pioneer cemetery once sat at site of East Sacramento's Sutter Middle School". Valley Community Newspapers. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  4. ↑ California Historical Landmarks. California Department of Parks and Recreation. 1990. p. 164. ISBN 9780941925082.
  5. ↑ Bachelis, Faren Maree (1987-01-01). Pelican Guide to Sacramento and the Gold Country. Pelican Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-4556-1028-0.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "City's first Jewish cemetery was located in today's East Sacramento". Valley Community Newspapers. November 4, 2010. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  7. ↑ Stapp, Cheryl Anne (2013-02-19). Sacramento Chronicles: A Golden Past. Arcadia Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-61423-874-4.
  8. ↑ Hall, Edward Hepple (1869). Appletons' Hand-book of American Travel: Containing a Full Description of ... the United States and British Provinces. D. Appleton & Company. p. 245.
  9. 1 2 Sacramento's Midtown. Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center, Historic Old Sacramento Foundation. Arcadia Publishing. 2006. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7385-4656-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. 1 2 Simpson, Lee M. A. (2004). East Sacramento. Arcadia Publishing. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7385-2931-8.
  11. 1 2 Moore, Sarah (October 26, 2018). "Memorial honors Sacramento's indigent dead". abc10.com. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  12. ↑ California (1861). Statutes of California and Digest of Measures. p. 248.
  13. 1 2 "A Mission to Recover Historical Headstones". SacCounty News. January 20, 2016. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  14. ↑ Bruner, Helen Marcia (1945). California's Old Burying Grounds. Portal Press. p. 19.
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