Narrative History

The Maplewood Cemetery is one of the many amenities provided by the Knowlton family for the town of Upton. This hat-manufacturing family had their plant in nearby West Upton where they also built houses, a church, a school, a hotel, and a large company farm. The plan and design of Maplewood Cemetery is of the lawn-park cemetery type that become so popular in the United States during the second half of the 19th century.  Emphasizing the landscape, it contains ponds as focal points; naturalistic curved driveways; areas devoted to open lawns; strategically planted areas of trees and shrubbery; no fences to enclose family plots; and modest-sized family momuments to replace traditional individual headstones. Maplewood is located on Maple Street near Pleasant Street in West Upton. Records for Maplewood have not yet been prepared for on line presentation.