{"nrhp_refnum":"83001237","name":"Union Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"316 Woodside Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Redwood City","county":"San Mateo County","state":"CA","lat":37.47361096100008,"lon":-122.22357289799999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-08-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 6.5-acre triangular public cemetery at 316 Woodside Road in Redwood City, San Mateo County, California, founded in 1859 and now owned by the city.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cemetery matters for historic archaeology, settlement patterns and social history. Its records show the varied origins of early settlers, and it was tied to California's first cemetery legislation. It is also the site of a long-running Memorial Day ceremony at the Civil War veterans' plot.","narrative":"Union Cemetery, a triangular burial ground of about 6.5 acres on Woodside Road in Redwood City, was established in 1859 after villagers lost access to an informal burial plot on land owned by Horace Hawes. They named it \"Union\" and bought six acres for $500, deeding the title in trust to the Governor of California. The effort coincided with the state's first cemetery legislation. Between 1,700 and 2,000 burials are estimated, including pioneers from at least seventeen foreign countries and twenty-six states, plus founders of Woodside and Searsville. Plots were set aside for Civil War veterans, Masons and Odd Fellows. A Civil War soldier statue erected in the 1880s was destroyed by vandals three times, and its pieces are now in the county museum. Burials ended in 1959, and vandalism and neglect have taken a toll. The cemetery remains the endpoint of Redwood City's Memorial Day ceremony and preserves records of early settlement.","period_of_significance":"1859 to 1959","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as deteriorated and heavily vandalized, with the last burial in 1959; the form lists it as unoccupied and used as a park and for religious purposes. An annual Memorial Day gathering continues.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.342629-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/83001237.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001237/da0f21a2e0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001237/da0f21a2e0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"User:Wwoods","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Cemetery_(Memorial_Day,_2009).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Wwoods</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:Union_Cemetery_(Memorial_Day,_2009).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861573","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Cemetery_(Redwood_City,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7885467"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-mateo-county/union-cemetery-83001237/"}