{"nrhp_refnum":"93000854","name":"Riverside Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"E. River Rd. S of jct. with NY 57","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oswego","county":"Oswego County","state":"NY","lat":43.42305275350006,"lon":-76.47550825030049,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1993-08-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A designed rural cemetery about one-half mile south of the city of Oswego, Oswego County, New York, laid out in 1855 by landscape architect-engineer Burton A. Thomas. The nominated parcel covers 68.38 acres on the east side of County Route 57.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a well-preserved example of the rural cemetery movement, with winding roads, lakes, wooded drumlin hills and planned plantings that follow Thomas's 1855 design. It also holds the burial plots, mausolea and monuments of Oswego's prominent families from the city's prosperous era. The period of significance runs from 1855 to 1940, when large mausolea stopped being built and markers became more modest.","narrative":"Riverside Cemetery is a 68-acre rural cemetery just south of Oswego, New York, designed in 1855 by Burton A. Thomas for the Oswego Rural Cemetery Association. Thomas worked with the hilly, glacial terrain, creating winding carriage roads, grassy footpaths, two small lakes crossed by stone bridges, and plantings of maples, spruce and pine. Notable features include the 1906 Page Memorial Chapel, a Gothic Revival stone building by Fielding Mantle of Philadelphia with Tiffany Studios windows, an 1875 receiving vault, a 1925 Colonial Revival superintendent's residence, service barns, mausolea and many monuments. About 17,000 graves are present. The cemetery was created when older burial grounds in Oswego were filling up and the city's canal and railroad trade had produced wealthy families who expressed their status through lots and monuments. The period from 1855 to 1940 marks its main development, ending when large mausolea were no longer built.","period_of_significance":"1855-1940","architect_builder":"Burton A. Thomas (landscape architect); Fielding Mantle (Page Memorial Chapel)","architectural_style":"Rural cemetery landscape design; Page Memorial Chapel is Gothic Revival; superintendent's residence is Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still an active cemetery; the chapel is described as generally in good condition, with some mortar, wainscot and staircase deterioration.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:51.025715-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/93000854.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320873","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Cemetery_(Oswego,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7338442"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oswego-county/riverside-cemetery-93000854/"}