Seasoned history lovers, gothic-style enthusiasts and people looking to explore more of local Binghamton gathered this past Saturday at the Spring Forest Cemetery as part of the Phelps Mansion Museum’s “Path Through History Weekend.”

Founded in 1849, the Spring Forest Cemetery is home to quite a few impressive memorials with enriching histories. The tour was led by the museum’s educator, Joe Schuerch, and former chair of the Board of Trustees, Mark Dickinson. The tour focused on symbolism found on many of the monuments in the cemetery.

Upon entering, visitors were led to an obelisk intricately carved with a woman on an anchor holding flowers. Shining light on the craftsmanship, Schuerch shared that in the 19th century, memento mori, or “remember you must die,” symbols began to go out of fashion and newer messages about resurrection and the afterlife became more common on gravestones.

Reflective of the change in symbolism, the next monument was topped with an urn draped in finery. Schuerch explained how the urn illustrates the idea of an eternal flame or the eternal spirit of man. On one of the many walking paths in the cemetery, Schuerch led the group to a monument decorated with scrolls and tablets, representing a love of learning and openness to new ideas as life passes on.

On neighboring monuments, large angels were carved as symbols of protection and spirituality and different angels signified different meanings to the mourners — open wings symbolized the flight of the soul to heaven, a carrying angel represented being escorted to heaven and a weeping angel was built to honor an untimely death.

Nestled underneath the fall foliage lay a small gravestone carved with a lamb that had a doll perched on top of it. Borrowed from Dickinson’s personal collection, the model was made to look like mourning dolls that would often be placed on the graves of children in the 19th century.

Many monuments feature thoughtful iconography that testifies to the unique, meaningful lives of the deceased and their journey onward. It was common for tombstones to represent contemporary attitudes about death and the recently departed rejoining nature. Several tombstones had carvings of ivy wreaths, signifying victory over death as well as friendship, fidelity and the concept of mortality.

In addition to being a picturesque resting place for generations of loved ones, Spring Forest Cemetery is home to an enriching local history. Joshua Whitney, one of Binghamton’s founders, and his family have an entire plot on the grounds.

The tour highlighted the cemetery’s impressive wartime history and Schuerch pointed out a few prominent soldiers that people still pay tribute to.

Major Frank W. Tremain and Colonel David Ireland are just two of the numerous Civil War veterans who can be found buried in Spring Forest. Tremain was killed in action in Virginia in 1865 and Ireland came home to marry Sherman Phelps’ niece, Sara Phelps, in 1863, later dying in 1864 before the war ended a year later. According to Schuerch, Phelps had the monument built and set with a full-size Civil War sword in honor of Ireland.

It was also common that wealthier Americans would border graves in cast iron fences, however, most disappeared in World War II when they were recycled as part of the war effort.

Perhaps a more harrowing part of the cemetery’s history is the trend of grave robbing that erupted in the 1870s. There was a dispute in 1884 regarding the embalmment of Robert Phelps and the Phelps mausoleum was broken into. Ever since then, the plot honoring the famous railroad investor has been sealed and left undisturbed.

Before the founding of the Spring Forest Cemetery, the courthouse burial ground was the only allocated graveyard in Binghamton. As Schuerch explained, graveyards in the 18th century were often located in town centers and were relatively small. Only in the 1800s did park-like cemeteries function as outside community spaces and become popularized on the outskirts of cities before the later establishment of state and city parks.

“The Phelps Mansion represents a very significant time in Binghamton’s history when it was a growing and thriving industrial city,” Schuerch said. “We tell the story of the Phelps family and those who came later and then we also do a lot of other local programming like the cemetery tour, to highlight different parts of local history and tell those stories as well.”