Kent's circular cemetery recognized

Photo by Joe Phelan, Kennebeck Journal.

The Kennebec Journal reported earlier this week on notable Maine additions to the National Register of Historic Places:

Places in central Maine make history
BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer
02/17/2009

A cemetery and old barn are the newest central Maine entries in the National Register of Historic Places.

Earle Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, said the listing means the properties have been evaluated and considered worthy of preservation and protection as part of the nation's cultural heritage.

The Kent Cemetery in Fayette and the Kromberg barn in Smithfield were entered, along with seven other properties in Maine.
...
Christi Mitchell [architectural historian and the commission's National Register coordinator] said the Kent Cemetery was established shortly after 1880 by Elias H. Kent, a successful farmer. The burying ground has a most unusual configuration.

Occupying just 0.35 acres, she said the raised burial ground is notable for its design in which concentric rings of burial plots are organized around a central monument.

The configuration is accompanied by a boundary fence, gate, mature maple trees along its border, raised earthen berms and granite retaining walls. She said it reflects to some extent the "garden or rural cemetery" design aesthetic that became popular in larger cities in the mid-19th century.

"The Kent Cemetery is really unusual for being a circular cemetery," she said. "It's laid out in concentric rings and it's one of only two cemeteries in the state designed in that manner."
...

To read the full article: [Source]

There is a complete list of the nine new Maine locations added to the register posted over at the Lewiston Sun Journal's site, with descriptions of their significance -- click here to view.