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Rural Cemetery and Friends Cemetery

1837 establishments in MassachusettsBristol County, Massachusetts Registered Historic Place stubsBuildings and structures in New Bedford, MassachusettsCemeteries established in the 1830sCemeteries in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in MassachusettsNational Register of Historic Places in New Bedford, MassachusettsRural cemeteries
NewBedfordMA RuralCemetery Gate
NewBedfordMA RuralCemetery Gate

The Rural Cemetery and Friends Cemetery are a pair of connected cemeteries at 149 Dartmouth Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts United States. They occupy an irregular parcel of land more than 90 acres (36 ha) in size on the west side of the city. Established in 1837, the Rural Cemetery was the fifth rural cemetery in the nation, after Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Mount Hope Cemetery (Bangor, Maine), Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Taunton, Massachusetts), and Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). In its early days it was criticized as lacking some of the natural beauty afforded by rolling terrain; the early sections were laid out in rectilinear manner on relatively flat terrain. The cemetery was a popular burial site, including notably the landscape artist Albert Bierstadt and Governor of Massachusetts John H. Clifford.In contrast to the more decorative nature of the Rural Cemetery, the Friends Cemetery is much plainer. It consists of a roughly 2-acre (0.81 ha) parcel on one side of the Rural Cemetery, which was sold to the Dartmouth Friends in 1849, but is administered by the city. This section has less ornate markers, generally laid out in rectilinear fashion. It includes burials that were relocated from a Friends cemetery (dating to 1793) that had been located on the New Bedford waterfront.The cemeteries were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rural Cemetery and Friends Cemetery (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Rural Cemetery and Friends Cemetery
Oak Street, New Bedford

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Latitude Longitude
N 41.6229 ° E -70.9354 °
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Address

Oak Street 48R
02740 New Bedford
Massachusetts, United States
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NewBedfordMA RuralCemetery Gate
NewBedfordMA RuralCemetery Gate
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William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage
William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage

The William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage is a historic cottage on 19 Irving Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Gothic Revival cottage was built in 1845 to a design by noted New York City architect Alexander Jackson Davis. It was built for William J. Rotch, a member of one of New Bedford's leading whaling families. It is for these two associations that it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. It is one a very few surviving Gothic cottage designs by Davis, exhibiting features not found in the others that do. The house was included in The Architecture of Country Houses, published in 1850, bringing it early fame and making it an iconic example of the style.The Rotch family was a major force in the development of whaling in the United States and in the rise of New Bedford as a major whaling center. William Rotch, Jr., grandfather of William J. Rotch, established the family's fortunes in the industry beginning in the late 18th century. The land on which the cottage sits was on a rural part of the family's New Bedford estate, and the house and land were a gift to William J. Rotch from his grandfather. The younger Rotch retained Davis to design the house.The cottage is roughly L-shaped, with a main block that has a hip roof meeting a slightly taller section with a steeply-pitched gable end. The exterior is clad with flushboarding, and its roof is composed of wood shingles. The building no longer stands at its original location, having been moved a short distance on its original lot in 1908. The original parcel it sat on has long been subdivided and built up with housing, depriving the house of its rural character. The projecting taller section frames the main entrance, and has elaborate hand-carved vergeboard decoration. On either side of this projecting section are a pair of gabled dormers with Gothic windows; these are a later addition by the Rotches to improve the lighting of upstairs bedrooms. The interiors feature elegant yet fairly typical Gothic Revival styling.The house was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.