When the Bough Breaks

The tour route begins at the main gates of the cemetery.

After passing through the gates, turn right. Walk along the road for a short distance.

On your left, look for three small trees next to a distinctive spherical monument belong to the Davis and Hardt families. Walk to the empty patch of grass just beyond the trees.

Lot I-598-605

We begin our tour at this stark, seemingly unremarkable grass-covered plot, the site of a mass burial of stillborn babies from Preston Maternity Hospital, also referred to as the Preston Retreat.

 Founded in 1865, the Preston Retreat was a ‘lying-in’ hospital (a term that we would now define as postpartum bed-rest) for “indigent married women of good moral character.”[6] Low-income pregnant women would visit the hospital located on North 20th Street between Hamilton and Springarden, and would stay while they recovered after giving birth.

The Retreat served Philadelphia mothers until 1961, when it merged with Pennsylvania Hospital. During this period, 405 stillborn babies were buried in this lot, alongside 202 infants who died within a few weeks of birth. This single lot accounts for almost half (48.1%) of the 841 stillborn children buried at The Woodlands, and a significant fraction (11.5%) of the 1755 infants buried here.

Most Woodlands lot cards include a diagram showing the locations of all stone markers placed in the lot. As you can see, the diagram for this lot is blank aside from a note:

"No record has been kept on this card of babies from the hospital. Later on an effort will be made to list burials here. No locations are necessary as remains are buried wherever possible in the lot."

We'll now return to the road and continue walking west. Look for a large, ornate monument at the southeast corner of the next intersection.

Lot I-1004,N1005

The next stop on the tour features the graves of Margaret Meurer and her son, Charles Agustus. Of the infant burials at The Woodlands, it is common to find a child buried alongside their mother, especially if the mother died in childbirth. In the case of Augustus and Margaret, she died while giving birth to Augustus, and while he survived his birth, he died just two weeks before his first birthday, to the apparent heartbreak of his surviving father, Margaret’s husband.

The very first burial at The Woodlands took place on April 10, 1845. While Margaret and Augustus died in 1844 and 1845, their remains weren’t interred at The Woodlands until 1855, according to their lot card, when they were moved from Odd Fellows Cemetery.

The inscription on their conjoined obelisk reads:

“To the sacred memory of Margaret, Wife of Charles A. Meurer, who died July 3rd 1844 in the 19th year of her age. ALSO, Charles Augustus, Son of Charles A. and Margaret Meurer, who died June 20th 1845, aged 11 months, 20 days. Past the struggle, past the pain/ Cease to weep for tears remain/ Calm the tumult of the breast/ They who suffered are at rest”

Our next stop is just across the street, in the first stone coping enclosed lot to your right. This lot contains many grave gardens, and towards the rear of the lot you will find a single, diminutive cradle grave.

Lot K-15

The third stop on the tour features the lone grave of Laura Esler. Located in the Warren family lot, Laura’s small cradle grave is notably unaccompanied. She is the only Esler family member buried in the lot.

Of the infant burials at The Woodlands, several feature “cradle graves,” a fitting and tragic name in this case, though it refers to the shape of the monument rather than the age of the grave’s occupant. These are tombs with connected headstones and footstones that create a basin for gardens. Smaller versions of the typical Victorian-era tombs seen across the grounds are often sized to reflect the diminutive nature of the interred.

We will now visit another cradle grave tucked further back in Section K. Head southwest along the nearby brick path.

Up ahead, you will see another group of cradles graves nestled under the branches of a group of Japanese yews. Our next stop is the smallest grave in this lot, located at the start of the back row.

Lot K-7

This next grave is notable in the year that the infant was interred. The highest year of infant death at The Woodlands was 1874. One out of every six burials this year was either a stillborn child or an infant younger than age one.

This graph shows the share of infant and stillborn burials each year at The Woodlands from 1845 to the present. The second half of the 19th century stands out as a period of high infant mortality, which then steadily declines from the 1890s to the 1930s.

Here's another perspective, showing all burials at The Woodlands by year and age of the deceased. Again the years from 1860 to 1900 stand out. This period represents both the peak years for burials at The Woodlands and a period marked by high rates of infant death.

The decline in infant mortality can also be seen by looking at where infants are buried in The Woodlands.

This heatmap shows the relative concentration of infant burials throughout the cemetery. The years shown are the median burial years for each section - meaning half of all burials occurred in or before that year. Older sections of the cemetery, such as sections C and F, contain the greatest concentrations of infant graves. The bright spot at the north of the cemetery is the Preston Retreat lot, where we began the tour.

Our next stop is in Section F of the cemetery. To reach it, head south for a few lots then turn back towards the road.

Once you reach the road, continue to the other side and enter Section I. Cut across the south end of the section.

Once you reach the other side of Section I, you should be able to see the stone pillars of the Harris family monument, the next stop on our tour.

Lot F-707-710

The Harris family monument features two infants buried here: Blanche Harris Thompson, aged 4 months, 21 days, and Horace H. Harris, buried in 1864, whose age is unclear due to the eroding of the marker and a lack of annotation on the lot card. It is likely that Horace possibly died before his first birthday, and was decidedly under two years of age.

This monument to the family is topped with an English-Ivy adorned statue of a small child lying on their side with their fist tucked under their chin. Across The Woodlands, infant graves are commonly decorated with statues of a baby or a small angel, often seemingly asleep, lying on their side or back.

Next we will head to Section D to visit the White family lot. On the other side of the Harris monument you should see a long brick path. Turn right on to the brick path and head south. Once you are a bit closer to the mansion, turn left and head to the road running along the east side of this section.

Follow the road south until you reach an intersection, then turn left. Up ahead on your left you will see two large lots enclosed by stone coping. The White lot is the second of these two. Look for a small cradle grave to the right of the obelisk.

Lot D-185-188

This plot represents the youngest of the burials on the tour, the cradle grave for William Mather Warren (recorded as "Child of Henry"), who lived for only 10 hours. William's parents were Henry Warren and Ida Carey White, daughter of prominent dentist Samuel Stockton White. While neither Henry nor Ida are buried at The Woodlands, Samuel Stockton White's grave is just a few feet away, in front of the lot's central obelisk.

Return to the road and continue walking east. Our next stop is a lot belonging to the Test and Elliot families. Look for it on your right, in the shade of a large ash tree.

Lot N-2,4,6

Many families in the late 19th - early 20th century were impacted by the death of an infant, not only once, but numerous times. The Test-Elliot monument is a memorial to “The Children of George and Henrietta Test-Elliot” including George Jay, aged 8 months, Anna Murray, aged 11 months, and Laura, aged 14 months.

There's a fork in the road just up ahead. Our next stop is in the southern tip of Section H, between the diverging roads. Look for a cradle grave marked by a stone cross.

Lot H-64

This cradle grave belonging to Annie B. Boudinot, aged nine months, is similar to Laura Esler’s tomb in that it is isolated from other graves. Also buried in this lot are two unnamed stillborn children of Elias L. Boudinot.

For our last two stops, we will circle back to the north side of the cemetery. Walk to the road that runs behind the Boudinot lot and follow it north.

The road will lead you to the Center Circle. Continue following it around the north side of the Circle, then turn right onto the first road leading away from it.

When you reach the stone fencing around the Callaghan lot, turn left and enter Section F. Head towards the nearby cluster of trees and look for a small headstone with a rounded top.

Lot F-62,64

This grave marks the final resting place of two sisters, Lilly and Alice S. Graves, 5 and 4 months old respectively. Lilly was buried in December 1868 and Alice died five and a half years later in July of 1874. You may recall from the Stotesbury lot that 1874 was the year with the highest recorded share of infant burials here in The Woodlands. The month of Alice's death is also significant.

“In Philadelphia, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a consistent seasonal pattern of summer mortality was observed for infants and one year olds, although not for adults. This pattern corresponded with yearly summer epidemics of diarrheal disease in infants and toddlers. Although limited to summer months, cholera infantum or summer diarrhea was the leading reported cause of death for infants in the city.”[7] By the start of the 20th century, this seasonal pattern had disappeared.

This trend can be seen in burials at The Woodlands. Infants are disproportionately likely to have been buried in the summertime, with about 40% of all infant burials occurring between June and August. By contrast, only 21% of older children and adults were buried in these months. The seasonal ebb and flow of infant burials in the 1870s is visible in this chart. Summer months, highlighted in gray, typically saw the highest number of infant burials in any given year. July stands out as a particularly deadly month for children in Philadelphia during this decade.

Our last stop on the tour is back in Section I. To reach it, cross to the other side of the center brick path then turn towards the road. Once you reach the road, look for a pair of cradle graves on the other side.