Mausoleums, monuments and mushrooms: Williamsport captains of industry buried and interred at Wildwood Cemetery | News, Sports, Vacancies

Caleb Hipple, assistant general manager, leads a tour of Wildwood Cemetery on a brisk fall evening. About 100 people recently took an hour-long tour of the cemetery, giving visitors the opportunity to see the graves and mausoleums of prominent local businessmen. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

A mandatory one-hour walking tour of Wildwood Cemetery in Williamsport is offered.

Wildwood Cemetery is large, covering 258 acres and having about 20 miles of roads. The Mount Carmel section offers impressive views of the city.

The bodies of many captains of Williamsport’s industrial past are buried and rest in peace in this cemetery.

Some were lumber magnates who prospered during the Susquehanna boom, when the city became “forest capital of the world” and there were more millionaires in a city of that size than anywhere else, as they made their fortunes in the timber and related businesses.

Among the graves are those whose families retain their namesakes on buildings and streets to this day, such as Lamade and Maynard.

“I enjoy walking through a cemetery and finding different areas that are visually interesting, historically interesting and have something that really engages the community.” said Wildwood Cemetery tour guide Caleb Hipple, assistant general manager of Wildwood Cemetery Co.

According to him, the cemetery was founded on August 18, 1863.

Wildwood Cemetery is considered a Victorian garden cemetery, he said. Most cemeteries meet criteria related to beauty or efficiency, and Wildwood Cemetery was designed with both aspects in mind, he said.

The cemetery is located among the hills on both sides of the road that divides the plots in half.

Here you can see not only mausoleums, but also unique manifestations of Mother Nature, such as the Jack O’Lantern mushroom.

This bright orange and toxic mushroom glows in the dark. “For those with black lights, this is a neat trick,” Hipple noted during a recent tour.

During the tour, Hipple stopped at various burial sites, including the meticulously maintained James VanDoosie Brown Mausoleum.

The granite building, perched on a hillside, is befitting of a visionary and philanthropic man best known for creating the city’s library.

Brown was born in Hartford, New York, March 2, 1826, and went to Williamsport.

In the late 1800s, when the famous Andrew Carnegie became the steel emperor of Pittsburgh, Carnegie was also involved in philanthropic work providing libraries to communities throughout Pennsylvania.

According to the library’s history page and what Hipple touched on, the library was suggested by his late wife, Caryl Brown. In his will, Brown bequeathed $400,000 to the city of Williamsport and stipulated that $150,000 be used to build and finance a public library at the corner of Fourth and State streets for the use of the residents of Williamsport.

The James W. Brown Library opened in June 1907. The lumber magnate and philanthropist died on December 8, 1904, aged 78.

In addition to the library, Brown was also instrumental in founding the First National Bank of Williamsport, which provided capital to expand much of the city’s Victorian charm during this period.

“This is one of my favorite places to stay here in the cemetery.” Hipple said. “This is one of the best-kept mausoleums here, and it really has a beautiful view of part of the Mount Carmel cemetery.” – he said.

Hipple also studied the stories of other prominent figures such as Elias Diemer, Guy Maynard and Peter Herdick.

Diemer’s grave is located in the original part of the cemetery, a few meters from the cemetery and chapel.

Many of the markers on the west side of Wildwood Cemetery are more detailed and have different characteristics, such as the obelisks, which are Egyptian-style spiral markers reminiscent of the Washington Monument. There are also vertical sarcophagus monuments.

The large rectangular monument to Diemer is easy to miss. He was born in 1838 in Durham, Bucks County. His ancestors immigrated here in 1707 as farmers and iron workers, becoming well known in Bucks County for their ability to work with iron. The process of making iron in colonial times was explained by Hipple as the process involved coal furnaces that heated the materials enough to turn them into cast iron for forging.

Diemer started working in a grocery store and by the age of 20 was able to become a manager. In 1859, at the age of 21, Diemer worked as an accountant for a logging company. Over time, he became a collector of bills and receipts and later became a salesman for a local manufacturer.

He moved to Philadelphia in 1860 to work in the wholesale trade, and around this time he decided to enlist in the Union Army in 1861, enlisting in the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Several were not only businessmen in the town, which prospered due to the abundance of timber running down the river, but also served in the Civil War, and the cemetery has a circle dedicated to those who served. After the war, Diemer created one of the largest operating shingle factories. The ingenuity of those at the time led to the production of useful wood products such as shingles, furniture, and companies that were not lumber mills were added to the growing economy as the city’s population grew.

“They needed houses, and these houses needed furniture, and the people buried here, they provided it,” he said. Hipple said.

In fact, at its peak, the Dimera plant employed more than 1,000 workers. He served as president of several businesses, including city council president from 1888 to 1890, and was elected president of the Williamsport National Bank in 1893, Hipple noted.

Diemer also represented Pennsylvania in the 57th, 58th, and 59th Congresses from 1901 to 1907.

The distribution of timber in various counties could be harvested, but the entire east coast was considered unexploited, and he expanded into Mississippi and founded an unincorporated community called Diemer. The neighboring community is called Philadelphia.

Diemer’s family background was also described during the tour by Hipple.

Their 17-room Queen Anne style home was designed by architect Ebert Culver in 1887.

Culver was involved in the design and construction of most, if not all, of the houses on Millionaire Street, including Wildwood Chapel. He and original manager John M. McMinn designed the chapel and many of the houses in town. Diemer died on March 19, 1918.

In a very modest place is the tombstone of Peter Herdich.

“They say that if Eber Culver built Williamsport, the land belonged to Peter Hurdick.” Hipple said.

Many of Herdick’s landholdings were on the city and South Williamsport side of the west branch of the Susquehanna River.

He owned some of the bridges and collected tolls.

He is resting in the area reserved for his father-in-law. When Herdic passed away, he was in poverty, having lost most of his money due to failed business ventures.

Alongside Herdick are the rest of the Maynard family, including Guy Washington Maynard, who was born November 28, 1828, in Hamilton, New York. Maynard attended Dickinson Seminary, the predecessor of Lycoming College, and was eventually hired by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Many of the immigrants in the cemetery helped build the railroad. Maynard used his surveying skills, left the railroad and continued to work in the engineering business. He was a family man, and by 1860 Maynard was working for a lumber company and later entered into a partnership with Herdic. The partnership allowed Maynard’s business to expand. His career spans some of the city’s most influential times. Its namesake is not the bridge, but the entire Maynard family.

The tour included the grave of John Hazelett, who is credited with creating a revolutionary roof sealant and was an integral part of the religious community that donated to flood relief. Born in Chambersburg, Franklin County. He was educated in the public schools and attended Chambersburg Academy. There he mastered the profession of an artist and decorator. He came to Williamsport in April 1868 and opened an art store.

At Wildwood Cemetery, maintenance crews have begun cleaning headstones, and while not all can be cleared of the resulting lichen, efforts are being made to make the cemetery stones as presentable as possible.

There are technically several different cemeteries here, including Mount Carmel, Mound Cemetery, and the former Grandview on the east side.

The hour-long tour included a reception with hot apple cider and gingerbread snacks and a tour of the historic chapel, built in 1896 and completed in 1897. Hipple told dozens of other interesting facts and answered questions from tourists.

That evening, as darkness fell, he also led a tour with lanterns and flashlights to light the way.

He said a tour is the best way to not only see the cemetery up close, but also gain insight into the city’s history and information about what makes it different from others.