First we had a pet obituary for golden retriever Charlie, and now you can lay your best friend to rest at the world’s oldest pet cemetery.
Just a short drive from Manhattan in West Chester County, New York, is Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, the oldest pet burial ground in the United States.
And your pet will be in good company here, as there are over 80,000 animals buried here, including Mariah Carey’s cat Clarence, a Bengal tiger called Ming (raised in a Harlem housing project) and a lion cub belonging to a Hungarian princess.
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The first pet was laid to rest here in 1896 when the cemetery was owned by veterinarian Samuel K. Johnson. Ed Martin’s family now run the site having taken over in 1974.
Hartsdale Pet Cemetery is also home to the country’s first pet mausoleum, an impressive 50-tone granite structure created for two spaniels. And it has a War Dog Memorial, built in 1923 after World War I, in honour of military mutts “for their bravery and sacrifice”.
The oldest remaining gravestone dates to 1899 and marks the final resting place of an unidentified pet named Dotty.
