{"nrhp_refnum":"10000938","name":"Shepard Settlement Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Stump & Foster Rds","address_restricted":false,"city":"Shepard Settlement","county":"Onondaga County","state":"NY","lat":42.99702357600006,"lon":-76.39456032699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2.56-acre rural cemetery on the north side of Stump Road at Foster Road in Shepard Settlement, town of Skaneateles, Onondaga County, New York, in use at this location since about 1823.","why_significant":"The nomination finds it significant under Criterion A as a settlement-period cemetery and the only surviving remnant bearing the name of a once notable hamlet. It holds the graves of the settlement's founder and at least 25 to 30 armed forces veterans. Under Criterion C it is significant for modest but typical examples of early nineteenth-century funerary art in rural Upstate New York.","narrative":"Shepard Settlement Cemetery is a flat, 2.56-acre burial ground at the corner of Stump and Foster roads in the northeast corner of the town of Skaneateles, Onondaga County. It has been at this location since about 1823 and is divided into four sections, including a paupers' area in the southeast corner. It holds roughly 500 burials and remains active. The graves include that of John Shepard, who settled the area in 1794 and gave the hamlet its name, and at least 25 veterans of wars from the Revolutionary War onward. Early stones of schist and marble carry weeping willows, urns, an anchor, open bibles, a lamb, and an unusual downward-pointing hand on a twelve-year-old girl's grave. Later nineteenth-century markers include obelisks, though most are simple and low. The hamlet itself declined as larger villages grew and farmers moved west, leaving the cemetery as the main surviving trace of the settlement. It was listed for its role in community history and its funerary art.","period_of_significance":"c.1823-1900","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The cemetery is still active, with approximately 500 burials. It has no buildings, a historic stone wall on the north side, and a modern chain-and-post fence on the other sides.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.015916-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/10000938.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000938/515350b476-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000938/515350b476-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Crazyale","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shepard_settlement.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Crazyale</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:Shepard_settlement.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320433","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Settlement_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22025478"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/onondaga-county/shepard-settlement-cemetery-10000938/"}