Fairmount Cemetery

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Fairmount Cemetery is a 150acre Victorian cemetery in the West Ward of Newark, New Jersey, in the neighborhood of Fairmount. It opened in 1855, shortly after the Newark City Council banned burials in the central city due to fears that bodies spread yellow fever. The first burial in Fairmount Cemetery was a 24-year-old man named Lewis J. Pierson. Fairmount is still accepting interments.Along with Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Fairmount has the graves of Newark’s most eminent turn of the century citizens, including Clara Maass, who gave her life in the investigation of yellow fever. A high proportion of the graves belong to German families. Fairmount Cemetery includes large trees, rolling hills, and intricately carved monuments. Featured near the old South Orange Avenue entrance is the recently restored zinc Settlers' Monument, commemorating the founders of Newark. There is also a Civil War memorial. The modern entrance to Fairmount Cemetery is on Central Avenue.