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Mount Hope Cemetery

Master Planning | Rochester, New York

A pioneer of the garden cemetery movement in the US, founded in 1838 by the City of Rochester, Mount Hope today is a magnificent cultural landscape that is facing diminishing land resources and insufficient revenues to support its preservation. Halvorson assisted the City with a master planning process that recognized the need for careful stewardship of the cemetery and responded to three primary goals: prolong Mount Hope’s function as an active cemetery, preserve the integrity of the cultural landscape, and elevate its horticultural stature.

Halvorson developed preservation and development guidelines to provide a comprehensive framework for long-term management of Mount Hope’s resources: preservation of landscape integrity, rehabilitation of deteriorated landscapes and facilities, efficient utilization of diminishing land resources, and enabling new sources of revenue. The master plan takes an in-depth look at the existing vegetation and presents a plan to manage it as a historically significant arboretum. Finally, it offers a phased implementation plan for major capital projects and other initiatives.