CORTLAND'S FIRST "RURAL" CEMETERY
In early winter of 1853, an association was formed to purchase land and establish a cemetery on what was then the western edge of the village of Cortland. (See official charter document.) Beginning with twelve acres, and initially accepting re-burials of over 800 early settlers of Cortland County from nearby smaller burial grounds and churchyard cemeteries, the Cortland Rural Cemetery today memorializes the remains of 18,000 people (roughly the present living population of the City of Cortland) in a centrally located 50-acre park.