Liverpool Cemetery

Welcome to the Liverpool Cemetery. This walking tour is designed to enhance your knowledge of some of the people and events that are part of the early history of Liverpool. Perhaps this tour will also make you aware that cemeteries are very important historical resources which must be maintained and protected.

The land for this cemetery was deeded by the state to the village with the understanding that the ground should always be used for a cemetery. The original village cemetery, in use from about 1800, was located in Johnson Park. In 1846, the bodies were placed on the outside row on Tulip Street. As many of the bodies were unidentified, this became known as “Stranger’s Row.”

Three themes were used to select the various “stops” you will be making.

The first theme is the pioneers. Three different groups of people settled Liverpool; Revolutionary War veterans and German and Irish immigrants. In 1776, Congress authorized states to purchase land as bounty for Revolutionary War soldiers. New York’s military tract was the approximate area of the present Onondaga County. Many veterans from the New England states, joined by the Liverpool area. The other two groups - the German and the Irish - came from Western Europe. The Germans worked in the salt industry and later became the mainstay of the willow basket industry. The Irish also worked in salt and in addition assumed the various occupations related to the canal.

The first village census in 1861 listed

Aggregate Americans and Irish and Others ……… 941

Aggregate Germans …………….………………….. 480

Aggregate amount in all ……………………………. 1421

A second theme is an economic one and deals with three major “industries” of early Liverpool - salt, willow baskets, and the canal.

The final theme, one of social history, provides further insight into the people and events that were part of life in the early village of Liverpool.

Transcribed by: Julia P. & Aloura K