Morningside Cemetery

Morningside Cemetery was established in 1900 by the Morningside Cemetery Association, who purchased the remains of the Royal Wood farm and had elaborate plans drawn up to create a garden park cemetery. Prospect Hill was filling up and it was popular at the time to visit cemeteries for a picnic or stroll on a Sunday afternoon. Early records indicate that as many as 150 people toured the cemetery on the weekends admiring the layout and landscaping being created.

The cemetery is accessed by a gated road leading down the hill from South Main Street. This cemetery is large; 30 acres encompassing ten sections scattered over an area divided by open fields or woodland. When originally designed, the cemetery included all the land that is now Morningside Condominiums and the northern section of the Cotton Mill Hill complex. A small triangular burial plot, which once had a working fountain, belonging to the Doolittle family remains fenced off within the Morningside Condominium complex.

While the cemetery was not originally owned by the town, it was turned over to the town in the late 1990s. It is currently the only cemetery in which the Town sells plots available for purchase. In recent years two new sections have been opened; one for cremation burials only, the other for green and Islamic burials oriented to meet the needs of our citizens.

In 1983 the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community purchased a one-acre parcel of the cemetery grounds to establish a private cemetery for the Jewish community. That cemetery, while accessed by the same road from South Main Street, remains a private cemetery owned and maintained by the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community.