Evergreen Cemetery
Founded in 1851 Evergreen Cemetery, the municipal cemetery of the Village of Owego, was an early and archetypal example of the Rural Cemetery movement. Set on a towering hillside, with monuments reaching to the sky, Evergreen was designed as a park-like setting away from what, at the time, was becoming an increasingly crowded Village. Later additions were designed in the Lawn Cemetery style. It is the final resting place for over 9,200 residents, important not only to the history of Tioga County, but to the state, the nation, and even some whose lives had impacts world-wide.
Of special interest is the Sa-Sa-Na Loft monument, a 17-foot white marble obelisk, at the highest point in the original cemetery. This monument is believed to be the oldest monument in the United States dedicated to a Native woman, and the second oldest monument to a Native person. The monument, high above the Village of Owego on East Beecher Hill, offers panoramic views of Owego Village, the Susquehanna River Valley at a place the Onondaga called Ahwaga where the valley widens, a view the Erie Railroad used in its advertising for its Ramble Through the Southern Tier, a view facetiously suggested as from Binghamton to Elmira. Visit Helen Dean Kings grave and learn about the most important American woman scientist of the early 20th Century. Learn about Oscar Barton, who at the time of his death was the oldest Federal Civil War veteran in the Eastern US. Spencer Pumpelly, who pitched in one game for the old Washington Senators came home to Owego. Eudora Burgess donated hundreds of Mathew Bradys original Civil War photographs to the Tioga County Museum.
You can explore Evergreen Cemetery on foot or on your phone by taking the EVERGREEN CEMETERY VIRTUAL TOUR.
