{"nrhp_refnum":"03000247","name":"White Plains Rural Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"167 N. Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"White Plains","county":"Westchester County","state":"NY","lat":41.04755633800005,"lon":-73.77175430491619,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-09-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 26-acre mid-19th century rural cemetery at 167 North Broadway, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, designed in 1855 by surveyor and civil engineer John F. Jenkins. It includes the 1797 former Methodist meeting house, now the cemetery office, and its older graveyard.","why_significant":"The cemetery is argued to be a distinctive and intact example of a mid-19th century rural cemetery in Westchester County. It embodies the characteristic features of the type, including undulating contours, serpentine drives and naturalistic plantings. Jenkins's 1855 plan was largely carried out, with only a few modifications.","narrative":"White Plains Rural Cemetery is a 26-acre burial ground on North Broadway in White Plains, New York, laid out in 1855 by surveyor and civil engineer John F. Jenkins. It follows the rural cemetery model that began with Mount Auburn in Massachusetts, using the sloping land to create winding drives, irregular burial sections and a wide variety of specimen trees and shrubs. Cast-iron entrance gates reading \"Dust To Dust 1855\" mark the main entrance. Monuments range from early tablet stones to late-19th-century obelisks, and a soldiers' plot holds a cannon. Two stone vaults stand in the southwest. At the southeast corner, a 1797 Methodist meeting house with its older graveyard became the cemetery office and caretaker's residence around 1881. Jenkins's plan was carried out largely as drawn, with a shifted east gate and a main drive added. About 20,000 burials are recorded, and burials continue today. The cemetery was listed for its landscape design and its intact rural cemetery character.","period_of_significance":"c. 1795 - c. 1881","architect_builder":"John F. Jenkins (surveyor and engineer)","architectural_style":"Other: Rural Cemetery","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still an active cemetery, with current burials along the western edge and about 20,000 burials in total; the former meeting house serves as the cemetery office.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.157584-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/03000247.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000247/d5a99474fc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000247/d5a99474fc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_Plains_Rural_Cemetery_2012-09-23_12-26_jeh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">jim.henderson</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_Plains_Rural_Cemetery_2012-09-23_12-26_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323301","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Plains_Rural_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7995222"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/westchester-county/white-plains-rural-cemetery-03000247/"}