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The Memorial Garden
Upcoming Events
Martha Lyon, ASA of Martha
Lyon Landscape Architecture
LLC, met with Bedford Cemetery
Trustees, from left, Ralph Dieter,
John Wood and Howard
Frizzell, to discuss plans for the
new Memorial Garden at the
Bedford Center Cemetery.

 

Many people are choosing cremation rather than full burials.The Bedford Cemetery Trustees have hired a landscape architect to design a Memorial Garden for the spreading of ashes or burial of urns at the Bedford Center Cemetery.

 

In 2008, there were twenty-seven burials in Bedford Cemeteries. Sixteen were cremations and eleven full burials.

 

The Friends of Bedford Cemeteries will display a final plan for the Memorial Garden at the Strawberry Festival scheduled for June 6th.

 

Gravestone Cleaning
On Wednesday May 20th at 7:30 pm at the Bedford Library a meeting will be held with Mr. Kai Nalenz, a monument conservation specialist and owner of Gravestone Services of New England. He will show a film and demonstrate how to clean gravestones.
 
Anyone attending the meeting will be given a certificate by the Town of Bedford as an authorized gravestone cleaner.
 
The first day for cleaning gravestones at the Bedford Center Cemetery will take place on June 6, 2009 at 9:00 am near the cemetery storage garage on Church Road. All cleaning supplies will be provided.

 

During the Bedford Strawberry Festival scheduled on June 6th, anyone helping with the cleaning of the gravestones will receive a coupon entitling them to a free strawberry shortcake.
May 20, 2008 7:30 PM,
Cleaning Gravestones
Kia Natena of Grave Stone Services of New England will give a program on how to clean grave stones.
June 6, 2008 9:00 AM Gravestone cleaning party. Center Cemetery

12:00 PM Strawberry Festival at the Presbyterian Church
All meetings are held at the Bedford Library unless otherwise indicated.

 

Isaac Riddle
Isaac Riddle (1762-1830) was a successful Bedford merchant. In 1799 his son, Gilman died and Isaac donated one-half acre to the town. Gilman's burial was the first in the Bedford Center Cemetery.

 

Isaac and close friend Caleb Stark of Dunbarton, built a boat in Bedford Center and with a yoke of forty oxen, moved it to the Merrimack River and loaded it for a trip to Boston. When it arrived it was hailed with cheers, the firing of canon and the following announcement in the Boston Centinel;
" Arrived from Bedford, NH, Canal Boat, Isaac Riddle,Captain via the Merrimack River and Middlesex Canal."
This introduced a new era of trade between Manchester and Boston and the reduction of freight costs on heavy articles. Before the introduction of the canal boat, freight rates from Manchester to Boston were $ 18.00 per ton. These dropped to $ 4.00 per ton when shipped by canal boat. Isaac Riddle and his sons were the principal ones engaged in river freight until the rail road was built.

 

 

 

Memorial Garden Being Planned for Bedford Center Cemetery
The Trustees of the Bedford Cemeteries received a grant from the Citizens Bank, Ann DeNicola Charitable Foundation, to establish a Memorial Garden at the Bedford Center Cemetery.

 

Cemeteries all over New England are making areas where ashes can be spread or burial urns can be placed.

 

Visitors will enter the garden via a meandering pathway lined with granite benches, native trees and ground covers. Memorial plagues may be placed in the garden area.

 

Martha Lyon, Landscape Architect, has been hired and has already met with the Trustees to discuss the garden She specializes in cemetery landscapes, having just completed a memorial garden in Providence, RI.


 

For more information contact John Wood at info.friendsofbedfordcemeteries.org
This web site has been approved by the Town of Bedford to display all information regarding the burials in the Bedford Cemeteries. This site has been developed by the WLD Group of Bedford, NH as a donation to the Town.
Become a member today! click here.

September 2010 Newsletter

Grave Stone Repair - Union Leader April 30, 2010

Volunteer Spirit - Union Leader May 3, 2010

November 2010 Newsletter

January 2011 Newsletter

March 2011 Newsletter

May 2011 Newsletter

June 2011 Newsletter

September 2011 Newsletter

November 2011 Newsletter

January 2012 Newsletter

April 2012 Newsletter

May 2012 Newsletter

Old Cemetery Tour

December 2012 Newsletter

For more information contact  Friends of Bedford Cemeteries