Oldest Pet Burial Ground in America Is Final Resting Place for Thousands

01On most days, Mark Lindenburg either drives or walks over to visit with Boots, his beloved cat, who died in 2020 at 17 years old.

02The New York man had the animal buried at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, a burial place on small grassy hills near the main road.

03The words on Boots' tombstone read, You taught me how to love and be loved.

04Other tombstones include phrases such as, A truer friend we never had, and Our beloved queen.

05Human cemeteries are sad, Lindenburg said.

06This is one of the most cheerful places.

07He added, I can't think of a better place.

08Hartsdale is America's oldest pet cemetery in operation.

09It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

10Lindenburg says he paid about $7,000 to bury Boots at Hartsdale.

11Those costs cover the individual site, burial, burial container, tombstone, and grounds care.

12What have I worked for if I'm not going to do the things that matter most?

13And this mattered most, Lindenburg said.

14I got instant closure the day I decided I was going to bury her here.

15Pet burials started in Hartsdale in 1896, when animal doctor Samuel Johnson let a woman bury her dog on his property of apple trees.

16The place is about 30 kilometers north of New York City.

17Since that time, about 70,000 animals have been laid to rest in the two-hectare cemetery.

18Most of the pets buried at Hartsdale are cats and dogs.

19But several other kinds of animals are also there.

20There's reptiles that are buried here.

21Mice, said Edward Martin III, vice president of the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery.

22There's a lion cub that was buried here in 1912 by a Russian princess.

23There's the ashes of Ming, who's a Bengal tiger, that was buried here a few years ago.

24There are some monkeys.

25There is also Hudson the horse, some birds, and singer Mariah Carey's cat, Clarence.

26The oldest headstone, dating to 1898, remembers the life of a dog named Blague.

27Martin operates the place with his father, Edward Martin Jr., who purchased the cemetery in 1974.

28The younger Martin is a lawyer and accountant, who decided later in his career to help run the cemetery.

29He had worked there also as a teenager.

30Between 250 and 300 burials take place at Hartsdale each year.

31The cemetery never runs out of space because not all of the burial sites are permanent.

32People can make a one-time forever maintenance payment of $3,500 or a yearly payment of $105.

33If the yearly payments stop, that grave site is offered for sale.

34The pet in the grave will be removed from that plot, so someone else who wants it can pay the maintenance.

35And the pets are taken out and they're cremated, and they don't leave the cemetery, said Martin Jr., Hartsdale's president.

36Their remains are scattered over the cemetery grass.

37A centerpiece at the cemetery is the War Dog Memorial at the top of a hill.

38Established in 1923, the memorial honored World War I service dogs.

39But these days, the memorial honors service dogs of all kinds.

40Although Hartsdale is mostly a resting place for animals, the cremated remains of about 800 humans are buried here with their pets.

41There is a Martin family plot where the elder Martin plans to be laid to rest when he dies.

42I have to be buried somewhere, and why would I go to any place other than this, he said.

43My mother and father and my mother-in-law or father-in-law are buried here, and so that's a good reason by itself to do it.

44Lindenburg also likes the idea.

45He has already prepared to be cremated and buried alongside boots when the time comes.

46I'm single.

47I don't know if I'll ever get married, and I can't think of a better place, he said.

48I lived with my cat every day for almost 17 years.

49Why stop now?

50In the meantime, Lindenburg, who lives a 10-minute walk away, will continue to visit his old friend almost daily.

51I'm Katie Weaver.