The mission of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery is to optimize the cemetery's potential as a cultural resource through education, preservation and promotion of Mount Hope Cemetery's unique heritage.

Dedicated in 1838 in Rochester NY, Mount Hope is America's first municipal Victorian cemetery.

Set in a picturesque landscape shaped by retreating glaciers, the cemetery features more than 80 mausoleums, soaring Egyptian obelisks, winged angels of mercy, a Florentine cast-iron fountain, two stone chapels in Gothic Revival style, a Moorish gazebo, and infinitely varied tombstones marking 350,000 graves across 196 acres.

Mount Hope Cemetery is listed in:

    •    Mount Hope/Highland Preservation District, Rochester, NY
    •    New York State Register of Historic Places
    •    National Register of Historic Places
    •    National Park Services National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom
    •    Erie Canalway National Corridor, as an Affiliate Site

and is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat and a historic site on Rochester's portion of the Genesee Riverway Trail.

MAILING ADDRESS
Please address mail correspondence to:
Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery
P.O. Box 18713
Rochester, NY 14618-0713




Please note: When using the CONTACT US feature, the words CONTACT US must be the only words used in the subject line.

2018 GUIDED WALKING TOURS
tour group
The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery offer general and special-theme guided walking tours throughout the year.

For more information about General Tours as well as a host of intriguing special Theme Tours, visit the  TOURS Page. 

Join us for these upcoming theme tours:


MEMORIAL DAY TOUR
Saturday, May 26 at 11 a.m.
Tour Guide: Dennis Carr

Meet: North Gatehouse, 791 Mount Hope Avenue, opposite Robinson Drive. Parking available within the cemetery.

Admission: Free for veterans and their families and active military. Otherwise, $10 per person; free for members, and for children under 16 when accompanied by a paying adult. CASH/CHECK/CREDIT CARDS.

Dennis Carr will provide a unique history of Rochester as seen through the lens of our veterans buried in Mount Hope Cemetery from the Revolutionary War to today.  A trustee of Friends of Mount Hope, Dennis has more than 38 years of experience as a guide. 

The tour will visit graves of veterans from the rank of private to the rank of general. In addition to those who died of their war wounds, tour participants will also visit the graves of some who died from disease and as prisoners of war.  Dennis will also explain the nineteenth-century concept of the "good death" and how wars have changed American attitudes and beliefs about death and dying.

SHOPPING ONLINE AT AMAZON?
Support the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery by choosing us as your charity of choice when you shop at Smile.Amazon.com.

GENEALOGICAL SERVICES
Click on Genealogical Services to find request forms and information about  assistance offered by Friends volunteers.