During this Spooky Season, a Visit to the ‘Boneyard Cut’

For early Cornell students trudging up the Hill to class, the quickest route was through Ithaca’s oldest cemetery

By Corey Ryan Earle ’07

In 1866, a book titled The Scenery of Ithaca called the cemetery “an object of admiration to all visitors” and an ideal place “for the dead to sleep, and the living to meditate.”

Noting its commanding vista, the author declared that “our truest, clearest, and most impressive view of life can only be gained from the standpoint of Death.”

With the Collegetown area largely undeveloped in the mid-19th century and residence halls for male students not built until the 1910s, much of the student body trekked up from downtown each day.

The meandering cemetery pathway north of Cascadilla Gorge was called the “boneyard cut” at least as early as 1887, when the phrase appears in a poem in the Cornellian yearbook.

One Class of 1878 alum recalled that the cemetery was dubbed the “Bone Orchard” in his time; more recently, novelist Matt Ruff ’87 chose “The Boneyard” as a key setting in his fantastical novel Fool on the Hill.

Our truest, clearest, and most impressive view of life can only be gained from the standpoint of Death.

The Scenery of Ithaca

“There were no sidewalks or even a graveled way, but the route was like a cowpath beaten hard and smooth by many student feet,” Jared Van Wagenen Jr. 1891, MS 1896, wrote in his memoir.

“Sometimes in winter when a northwest gale was blowing from off the lake it was a particularly bleak and windswept stretch. … I am sure that these days of cars and buses are bringing forth a softer generation than ours.”

Unfortunately, the cemetery’s proximity to campus meant that it has occasionally been the target of student mischief.

The local Board of Public Works debated closing the pathway after a bout of vandalism in 1922. In 2019, the University contributed $75,000 toward preservation, particularly for the crumbling vaults.

Although the graveyard route is no longer as popular as it once was, the cemetery offers ample history for curious Cornellians.

Mossy tombstones and timeworn crypts line the hillside—each telling a story of early Ithacans, many of whom intersected with the University and its history.

The distinguished departed include …

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Francis Finch (1827–1907)

The first secretary of the Board of Trustees, Finch was a judge on the New York Court of Appeals and the second dean of Cornell Law School.

The inscription on his tombstone comes from a popular Civil War poem he wrote titled “The Blue and the Gray”: “Under the sod and the dew / Waiting the judgment day.”

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His book of “spirit messages” documents these ghostly conversations and even includes several with Goldwin Smith—who, Corson admits, “had no belief whatever in spirit visitation.”

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George Schuyler (1810–88)

Schuyler was New York State treasurer at the time of Cornell’s founding, and was subsequently elected to serve in that role on the University’s board.

For Hamilton fans: he’s the third cousin once removed of the famous Schuyler sisters.

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The tombstones for both men tower over their neighbors.

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Edith Clifford Williams (1885–1971)

Williams—the granddaughter of founding trustee Josiah Williams—served as the Vet College’s first full-time librarian from 1923–46.

Rare and Manuscript Collections

Also a pioneering avant-garde artist and an associate of famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz, the Ithaca native had a decades-long friendship and romance with noted Chinese intellectual Hu Shih 1914, namesake of a North Campus residence hall.

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Notably, he was in Ford’s Theatre when Abraham Lincoln was shot—12 days before Cornell’s founding.

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The Cornell Family

The final resting place of Ezra Cornell (1807–74) is the memorial antechapel added to Sage Chapel in 1883, but his remains were originally interred in the family vault at the City Cemetery.

(University benefactors John McGraw and his daughter Jennie were similarly relocated.)

In 1909, a family mausoleum was built in the much larger Lake View Cemetery—located across from Ithaca High School, and itself home to the graves of many local and University dignitaries, including astronomer Carl Sagan.

Designed by Uris Library architect William Henry Miller, the impressive granite and marble tomb holds several generations of Ezra’s relations.

The Founder himself was clearly unafraid of ghostly spirits—choosing to build his home, Llenroc, adjacent to the City Cemetery.

(All cemetery photos by Sreang Hok / Cornell University.)

Published October 11, 2024

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Comments

1. 

   Mike Parkinson, Class of 1975

   15 Oct, 2024

   Corey thanks for this guide to the cemetery – an under appreciated Cornell and Ithaca gem! Wandering through observing Civil War and other sections could be a course itself. Hope that frosh now ensconced on North campus can be organized to tour and appreciate what many alumni did when we first landed in U Halls!

   Reply
2. 

   Sarita Thakore

   15 Oct, 2024

   It is interesting to know the history through this article. What a gem of people resting peacefully.

   Reply
3. 

   M. Claire Myer, Class of 1984

   16 Oct, 2024

   The cemetery was my back yard for two years when I lived at 522 Stewart Avenue. I often took meandering strolls there to explore the historic monuments, admire majestic trees and clear my head. Thank you for such an interesting piece about my former neighborhood!

   Reply

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